Blind
by KRJ0792XX1
Summary: The Basilisk inside the Chamber of Secrets took away his sight, and now the Boy-Who-Lived is blind. How can he possibly handle what's to come when the odds are clearly stacked against him? Rated M for violence, swearing, and implied situations.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** This story is 100% alternate universe and most, if not all, of the characters in this story are out of character as well. Also I don't own anything by J.K. Rowling and I am not trying to steal her characters, plots, or moments within the books that she has written. This is my own story and I also claim to not copy off of anyone else's work either in the process.

 **Summary:** The Basilisk inside the Chamber of Secrets took away his sight, and now the Boy-Who-Lived is blind. How can he possibly handle what's to come when the odds are clearly stacked against him? Rated M for violence, swearing, and implied situations.

* * *

 **Prologue**

Tom Riddle's diary was laying on the ground near Harry's hand, but the venom from the Basilisk's fang that was injected into his arm made it hard to concentrate. The basilisk was hard to kill especially since it was at least ten times taller than him, but the boy eventually won. As Harry attempted to remove the sword from the beast's head, a poisonous fang inserted itself into his arm and did not let go. The sword fell at his feet. This vile poison was quickly spreading up his arm and into his bloodstream. He would only have minutes before the toxin took over and stopped his heart from beating. None of this mattered to him. The only thing he cared about was saving the poor angelic little girl in front of him who been possessed by the most despicable wizard on the planet. She discovered the diary containing the Dark Lord's soul in her cauldron earlier this year. She quickly realized that Tom Marvolo Riddle was more than just a boy inside a normal looking book. He gained her trust, zombified her with his mind control powers, and user her to unleash the massive snake into the school which had petrified several students over the last few months.

When Tom explained everything to Harry in the Chamber of Secrets, he couldn't breathe. Harry felt sick after he realized what Ginny suffered through this entire year. She was distant from everyone, including Harry and her brothers, and no one noticed or tried to ask what was wrong. If he had only done something to help her, then this wouldn't have happened. He realized it was not entirely his fault, but he did share the blame since they were sort of friends. Harry vowed that if he did get out of this chamber alive, he would do anything he could to make it up to her. That and force her brothers to do the same.

"Surprising, isn't it? The venom quickly enters the body and slowly shuts down the organs from the inside. I'd say you only have a few minutes to live." Tom Riddle smirked as he brought Harry back to the present. "Thanks to Ginny Weasley's life force, she will die, and I, Tom Riddle, will cease to be a memory. Lord Voldemort will return very much alive!"

Harry grew extremely angry after hearing this. Voldemort was controlling a small child and then sucking the life out of her body in order to resurrect himself. It was one of the vilest things he had ever heard, and he wasn't going to let that bastard win. After forcefully removing the fang from his arm, Harry started to slowly raise the tooth.

"What are you doing?" Tom asked with a little anxiety in his voice. Harry didn't say anything. His face grew even angrier and he raised his arm a little higher than before. He was so angry that his eyes turned a violent shade of red. Just as Harry was about to lodge the fang into the book, Tom screamed.

"STOP! NO!"

It was too late to stop the boy. The fang's poison began to melt the vile book which caused Tom to scream horrifically in pain. The book was spewing black blood from the puncture wound. Harry felt it wasn't enough pain for Tom, so he decided to give him some more. He raised the fang again and stabbed the diary again. Then he did it one more time. And then another. And then another. The book's blood exploded in violent bursts whenever the fang stabbed the book. Some of the blood ended up on Harry's clothes and face, but he didn't care. The only thing that mattered was Tom's death. He wouldn't let Tom control Ginny or anyone else ever again. With one final stab, the book caught fire, Tom Riddle's memory faded into the void and the diary burned a massive hole in the direct center.

He did it. Harry had killed the Basilisk, defeated Tom Riddle, and saved Ginny's life. Wait. Did he save her life? Harry suddenly realized he had no idea if Ginny was okay. Using his good arm, Harry attempted to push Ginny a little to see if she would wake. She suddenly shot up.

"NO TOM DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!" Ginny screamed.

She shook with fear but it dropped when she suddenly realized she wasn't anywhere she knew. It only took her a moment to deduce that she was in the Chamber of Secrets. She looked to her left and saw the massive snake lay dead. Ginny had no idea the snake was that huge, but she would have known if she was in control of her actions from the past year. Next to the snake was a sword that seemed to be covered in blood. She guessed that someone had come down to rescue her, and had killed the monster. Whoever it was, Ginny was going to worship the ground they walked on for the rest of their life. She continued to look to the left but did not see anything else.

The girl turned her head to the other side. She noticed the evil diary looked as if it was burned in a fire, but there was a thick liquid that covered the entire thing. The thick substance was black. Of course, it was. Tom was pure evil, so why wouldn't his blood be as black as his soul? Next to the diary was a fang from the snake. She would have grabbed it but decided not to. There was a chance the venom from the monster was still on it. Ginny made a mental note to grab the tooth later. Finally, the girl was able to see her mysterious savior. She was in shock when it turned out to be none other than her childhood hero, Harry Potter. Ginny instantly wanted to thank Harry as much as possible but discovered she couldn't. She noticed that Harry was unconscious and was covered in blood.

"Harry wake up!" Ginny said as she pushed him a little like he had done to her, just a moment ago. She tried to wake him for about a minute straight before she started to scream out for help.

"Help! Someone help me! Harry needs to see a healer! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!" The girl shouted but no one could hear her. Ginny went back to trying to shove Harry awake. She stopped when the trill of a bird came into the chamber and landed next to Harry. It was Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes.

"Please, help him!" Ginny pleaded. Fawkes nodded and began to cry so its tears could heal the boy. A few drops fell on to his infected arm, and another few of them were dropped on his face. The scratches and tears on the boy's body were evident and everywhere, but Fawkes only focused on those two specific areas. The rest could be taken care of by the healer at Hogwarts. After applying the tears, Harry started to shuffle a little but couldn't move much or open his eyes. He also grunted after being woken up.

"Harry! You're okay!" Ginny said with glee as she grabbed him and pulled him into a massive hug. The boy grunted in pain a little and Ginny released her grip on him.

"Hey, Ginny." He said with his eyes closed. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Yeah just exhausted. Tom and his pet snake really tired me out." Harry said quietly.

"Thank you for rescuing me, Harry. You saved my life." Ginny said with some tears in her eyes. She was incredibly grateful this boy had saved her, and she would do anything for him if he had asked.

"It's nothing, Ginny. You would have done the same …" Harry muttered before passing out. Ginny giggled a little. Now that Harry was passed out, Ginny had to find a way out of the chamber, but she didn't have to think about it for long as Fawkes trilled.

"Fawkes, thank you for saving him! Can you take us out of here?" The small girl asked. The Phoenix nodded its head as if to understand her. After Ginny had grabbed ahold of Harry, Fawkes grabbed ahold of her and flame traveled them away to Hogwarts' Hospital Wing. Fawkes then flamed away. Madam Pomfrey was shocked when she saw Ginny and Harry enter the wing, but stepped into action right away. She placed the kids into separate beds and then sent a _Patronus_ to the Weasleys and to Albus Dumbledore. Fawkes suddenly returned with not only a very confused Gilderoy Lockhart but also Ron Weasley who was just trying to get past the rocks to save his sister. As expected, Ginny was questioned in length by her brother about what happened, but she didn't want to talk about what happened in the chamber.

In only minutes, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, along with Albus Dumbledore, quickly headed into the Hospital Wing to see the kids. Ginny and Ron were both pulled into spine breaking hugs from their worried mother, while their father gave them less intense hugs but was still worried about his kids.

"Oh, my babies! I'm so glad you're okay!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed.

"We are so glad you both are safe." Mr. Weasley responded. Both Ron and Ginny were having a tough time deciding which parent's hug was more intense. After this family reunion, the Weasleys turned to Harry.

"Is he okay, Poppy?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"He took a lot of abuse, but I am supplying him with potions to speed his recovery process."

"Have his parents been alerted?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not yet. I have been helping other patients before I came to Potter. Now that he is taken care of, I will send James and Lily an owl immediately." Madam Pomfrey said before leaving. The moment she left, the questions started flowing out of the Weasley parents' mouths. The kids were barely able to keep up.

"What happened down there?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Why did you open the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Where am I?" Lockhart asked in the background. Everyone turned to look at him and they ignored his question.

"Did either of you get hurt?"

"Am I in a castle?" Again his question was ignored.

"How did any of this happen at all?"

"If you don't mind, I would like to hear these answers myself." Dumbledore said as he interjected himself into the conversation and ignored the random questions by Lockhart. The Weasley parents allowed him to take part. Ginny started telling her story from the beginning of the school year and when it came time for Ron to take over, he did.

"And what about Professor Lockhart?" Dumbledore asked.

"He tried to _Obliviate_ Harry and me, but the spell backfired and he cursed himself. He doesn't remember anything." Ron said.

"I see." Dumbledore turned around to look at the confused man. "It seems Professor Lockart wanted to be even more famous by erasing the minds of Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley."

"Who are Potter and Weasley? Are they my friends?" The group groaned.

"Is he going to be like this forever, Albus?"

"It appears so, Molly." Dumbledore still had a few questions that were unsolved.

"Mr. Weasley, what happened when Mr. Potter continued through the other side of the chamber?" Dumbledore asked his question to Ronald.

"I don't know sir. The rocks were too thick and I couldn't move them."

"Very well. Could you give us your version of events, Miss Weasley?"

"I don't know what happened, professor. All I remember is waking up and Tom was gone, his book was destroyed, the Basilisk was killed, and Harry was being healed by Fawkes."

"Did he have any serious injuries, Miss Weasley?"

"I think I saw some wounds on his arms, but I am not entirely sure. Fawkes used his tears on some of his wounds."

"Was Mr. Potter poisoned by the Basilisk venom by any chance?" Ginny had a blank expression on her face and she shook her head because she couldn't answer the question. While they were all distracted by Ginny's answer, Dumbledore took the opportunity to use his proficient powers in _Legilimency_ to search both of the Weasley children's minds. He found nothing to contradict their stories, and he left their minds before it became noticeable.

"Well, I must say I am very grateful that you children have made it out of the Chamber of Secrets with minimum harm." Dumbledore said. "Incidentally I will inform you all on Mr. Potter's health as it progresses. Now let us leave him so he will not be disturbed."

"Who is Harry? Am I going to meet him soon?" The group really wanted to hex Lockhart right now, but they decided not to out of some sort of mercy.

The group of six left the Hospital Wing so that Harry, and also Lockhart, could get some much-needed rest. Madam Pomfrey did, however, need to give Professor Lockhart a sleeping-draught so he would stop asking questions all night. The healer would have given some to Harry Potter but he was still unconscious and wouldn't need it.

It may have been hours or days later, but to Harry, it seemed entirely too short because he was awakened by a loud sound nearby. Whatever it was, Harry did not want to know so he wouldn't have to get upset at the person who woke him. He groaned in pain as he stretched himself out in bed. His arms were the worst because that was where the venom was injected. His legs were sore but otherwise okay. His back was bruised from being tossed around by the Basilisk and landing on the stone floor. He also had some scratches on his hands and around his face, but they were minimal. The boy tried to lift himself from the bed, but he discovered it was pitch black and couldn't see. It must have been really early in the morning so he tried his best to find his wand in the hopes of casting _Lumos._

Harry couldn't find his wand so he tried to locate his glasses because he could not feel them on his face. Maybe if he found them it would be a little easier to see. After bumping into a few things, he discovered it was nearly impossible. Whatever was causing the advanced amount of darkness was not going to give him any breaks in finding his personal effects. He had no idea where he was, but Harry had no choice but to head back to bed. Maybe when it was morning he would be able to find out what happened. It only took a minute for Harry to slip and fall. There was something on the floor that made him slip. He assumed it was because of Filch cleaning the wing.

"Mr. Potter! What are you doing out of bed?" The distinct voice of Madam Pomfrey rang out.

"Can you help me up, Madam Pomfrey? I am a little turned around and cannot find my things." Madam Pomfrey's eyebrows raised.

"Mr. Potter your glasses and wand are on top of your bedside table. Your attempts at humor are wasted on me, young man. I suggest you get back to bed before I keep you longer."

"Where is my bed? I cannot see anything, Madam Pomfrey. Hang on. How can you? It's completely dark in here. Are you using a spell to make you able to see in the dark?" Madam Pomfrey was starting to get concerned.

"Mr. Potter I want you to humor me. I am going to hold up a few fingers, and I want you to tell me how many there are."

"Why? You and I are in the dark! I won't be able to see anything."

"Just do it, Potter."

"Fine." Madam Pomfrey then held up no fingers.

"How many fingers, Potter?"

"Two?" She asked him to try again and she held up three fingers.

"Uh … one?"

"That is not correct, Mr. Potter. I have one more test for you to try." She said as she moved to the opposite side of Harry and grabbed a spellbook that was left behind. "Please read the first paragraph on the page that you open to."

Harry tried to read the book but it was black as night. There was nothing he could see or read. He was really scared right now. Madam Pomfrey's suspicions were now confirmed.

"What's going on, Madam Pomfrey?"

"I'm afraid, Mr. Potter, that you …" The matron tried to say before the doors were slammed open.

"HARRY! My little man is awake!" Lily Potter said as she ran to her son and hugged the life out of him. Harry's father was not far behind.

"Are you okay, son? You had us worried there for a while." James Potter asked.

"Mum? Dad? You're here?"

"Of course, Harry. We've been watching you while you were sleeping." Lily said. She started crying. "I'm so glad you're safe. I couldn't bear it if something happened to you."

"Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I need to say something to the both of you." Madam Pomfrey interrupted. They all quieted down. "Thank you. I'm afraid I have some bad news, and it would be best if you both sat down. Harry don't sit."

"What's going on, Poppy? Is there something wrong with Harry?"

"Unfortunately there is, James. Your son has suffered an injury from the Basilisk poison in his body. It traveled far into his central nervous system and was very close to reaching his brain. Fawkes was able to heal Harry before the poison reached his brain, but it was too late to save his eyes." Lily and James were staring at her with shocked expressions while Harry found it difficult to breathe.

"Wait … wait are you saying that … Harry is blind?"

"Yes, Lily. That is exactly what I'm saying."

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Hey all. I wanted to do something new again. I am going to finish my "Interesting Turn of Events" story, but I am figuring out how I want certain scenes to go. I appreciate you all for reading this, and if you want to read more, then please like, comment and share. I'll try to update as soon as I can.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** This story is 100% alternate universe and most, if not all, of the characters in this story are out of character as well. Also I don't own anything by J.K. Rowling and I am not trying to steal her characters, plots, or moments within the books that she has written. This is my own story and I also claim to not copy off of anyone else's work either in the process.

 **NOTE:** I had a really good point brought up from one of the reviews in this chapter. So Lily is supposed to be muggle-born and should know about brail and other things when it comes to being blind. Well in my story she's a pure-blood. So that's where I'm going with this. I had to make her pure-blood so they could just go with what Dumbledore wanted in this chapter.

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 **Chapter 1**

 _1 month later_

Harry was sent home early from Hogwarts following the Basilisk attack, and everyone at school was worried. Draco Malfoy, Professor Snape and most of the Slytherins didn't care though. Harry's eyesight had not improved at all and he was slipping into a massive state of depression because of it. How could he perform magic if he couldn't see? How could he be expected to finish homework? Or fly a broom? Or avoid getting lost because of the changing stairs? He was without answers and had a lot of puzzling questions.

Despite this unfortunate accident, Harry did have a lot of support from his parents. It didn't matter what he needed help with. If either James or Lily was home, they would do anything to help their son. The first thing they gave him was a unique pair of sunglasses that would never slip or fall off unless Harry purposely removed them. His eyes were greyed out from the toxin so he needed to hide his eyes when he was around other people. Lily and James were also a little frightened by their son's new appearance, but they would never tell him that.

Every once in a while both of his parents would have to leave and they had no choice but to leave Harry behind. It did bother him at first, but there was nothing he could do about it. The only problem was trying to keep himself entertained. The family didn't have much that Harry could do without his eyes. The boy was getting exercise around the property by walking because James set up barriers so Harry wouldn't go too far. But even that was becoming tedious.

Harry's parents were very concerned about him and his future. Neither parent wanted to talk about it, but both of them were worried about sending their son back to Hogwarts. Lily had thought about taking over as the Professor for Charms Class, and therefore be closer to her son, but her application was rejected because Flitwick did not want to give up his position and would not retire for another 5-10 years. Mrs. Potter even offered to teach part-time for Charms but was denied. It was nothing personal. Dumbledore wanted Flitwick to keep teaching because he was extremely good at it. James had a similar problem. He wanted nothing more than to stay and teach his son from home but was unable to because of his Auror job. He had taken a lot of days off right when Harry was injured, but he didn't have any more days left, and his boss couldn't do anything more for him. The Potter parents also thought about keeping Harry at home and learning from a private tutor, but they had not talked to Harry about that idea yet.

"What are we going to do, James?" Lily asked. "I don't think sending Harry back to Hogwarts is the best idea."

"I don't know, Lily. I want to help Harry as much as I can, but I've already missed a lot of work being here the last month. I want to be here to help him. I just hope he understands." He sighed.

"I'm sure he does, love. He may need our help, but he understands that you need to work." James said his thanks and returned to the matter at hand.

"I don't know whether it's best to get a tutor or not. We do have a lot of money in our accounts to provide him one, but maybe we can take the money we already put down for the rest of his years at Hogwarts and give it to the tutoring instead?"

"Yeah maybe." She said as she started to become distant. James took her hand and assured her that everything would be alright. She smiled as best as she could but she was pretty unsure about everything. Suddenly James had a pretty good idea.

"Hey, I just thought of something. What if we try to train Harry in wandless magic?" Lily seemed surprised at this idea.

"I hadn't thought of that. I know that it's going to be extremely hard for him. I don't know anyone who can do that proficiently and Dumbledore even has a hard time doing it himself."

"Yes that's true, but we know Harry is an extremely gifted child. He did survive the attack from Voldemort when he was a baby, he also defeated Quirrel over a year ago, and he just took down a fully grown Basilisk. A Basilisk, Lily! No one I know could ever possibly take it down, much less by themselves."

"Maybe you're right." Lily said as she smiled genuinely at her husband. "Come on, James. Let's go talk to him."

The parents walked up the stairs of Potter Manor and turned to the left of the hallway towards Harry's room. When they arrived, James knocked on the door and waited for his son to answer. He allowed them to come in.

"Hey, Harry. How are you doing?" Lily asked. Harry was starting to get really annoyed by this question since his parents asked him this on almost a daily basis. But there was no reason for him to yell at his parents. They were only trying to help, and he knew that.

"I'm fine." Harry said. His response wasn't mean nor was it happy. Just somewhere in the middle.

"That's good, honey." Lily responded back. No one said anything. James decided to get to the point after some time.

"We have an idea, Harry, and we wanted to see if you were okay with it."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Well, we know that doing magic with a wand is going to be a little difficult for you and ..."

"Difficult? It's going to be impossible! How can I do magic without seeing? Having a wand is useless to me! How does this make me any better than a squib?" Harry asked with some anger. James was trying not to feel sorry for his son, but it was proving to be quite difficult. Lily wasn't far behind her husband on feeling the same way. But their son was right. If Harry could not perform wandless magic then he would most likely not be able to perform any magic at all. He would be a pure-blood wizard with his magic locked away.

"We both realize that it will be a challenge for you from now on, but, we have an idea that may allow you to still perform magic." James said.

"Mum, Dad, I appreciate it, but I can't rely on accidental magic for the rest of my life." James thought that was a little funny but Lily shut him up by poking him in the ribs.

"No, son. We had another idea in mind. How would you like to start training to learn wandless magic?" Harry certainly wasn't expecting this.

The boy thought about it for a moment and realized it would be impossible to do. No one could do wandless magic well enough. No one. He knew that Professor Dumbledore could do a little wandless magic, but not enough to be a master. Witches and Wizards relied on their wands for everything, and because of that, the thought of trying to not use a wand was laughable. Even if a witch or wizard could do wandless magic, the probability of blocking any spells would be slim to none. If anything, the offensive magic was much easier to understand than the defensive. Why defend when you can attack? Harry may have been overthinking his answer, but he had to be smarter now. He couldn't afford to be any weaker than he already was. Worse than that, Voldemort was still out there and he was supposed to destroy the Dark Lord someday.

"No."

"No? Don't you want to try at least?"

"I know what you're trying to do. Because I'm blind, it's going to be damn near ..."

"Don't curse young man!" Lily demanded.

"Sorry. Because I'm blind, I will have to memorize every spell flawlessly without witnessing it and I can't make potions without burning or killing myself unless I know what to do already. Using wandless magic would not help me at all with these problems. Trying would only make my life harder than it already is."

As Harry said this aloud, he realized that learning wandless magic could be a blessing in disguise. No one before him may have been able to expertly perform this feat, but maybe, just maybe, Harry could be the first master of wandless magic. Since his eyesight was gone, it should, in theory, boost his other senses to near superhuman levels. Perhaps he was doubting himself at first, but it could be something that could make him stronger. Stronger than anyone. The boy wanted that power now. There was only one answer he could possibly give.

"Are you saying you don't want to try, Harry? Could consider giving it a go for a little bit?" James asked.

"Okay. I'll try." Harry said with some sort of smile on his face. Somehow he could tell that his parents were smiling back at him.

"Great. We will start training as soon as we find someone." James said. "Now why don't we do something together? You haven't been outside your room that much this summer." Lily gave her husband a worried look that made it obvious that Harry may not want to.

"Hold on a moment. You don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to sweetie. If you're not ready to be around other people, then we completely understand. Don't we, James?" She looked at her husband and was demanding cooperation.

"Yes of course. If you're not comfortable, Harry, then we don't have to go. The choice is yours son."

"Okay. I guess we can go somewhere."

"Any place in particular?"

Harry started to think. If he went into Diagon Alley, there would be a good chance of him being depressed because he wouldn't be able to see all the sights of the magical stores around him again. Not to mention all the people who would whisper behind his back about being famous. So he didn't choose Diagon Alley. Next, he thought about going to one of his favorite places just near the edge of Scotland. This had been where the Potter family would have fun at the beach for many years. The boy wanted to relax on the beach and see the majesty of the oceans, but that wasn't going to happen. So he threw that out too. Harry didn't know what else to do. Everything he was thinking of made him more and more depressed. Maybe he shouldn't go anywhere after all.

"Nowhere ..." Harry said quietly. Lily tried her best not to cry.

"What about inviting over Ron or Hermione? That'd cheer you up, right?" James asked. Harry shook his head in response. The boy had only received a few letters from his friends so far, and he didn't want to be around anyone anyway. Ron sent a lot of letters, but Harry was getting tired of hearing his friend feeling sorry for him and blaming Ginny for what happened in the chamber. Lily didn't like hearing this either since she would read Harry's letters aloud to him. It wasn't Ginny's fault and the pity was driving him crazy. He already got enough of it at home. Hermione didn't reply as much, but she was more annoying than Ron. Hermione tried to gloss over the fact that it never happened at all, and only pretend that everything was normal. When she started informing him about signing up for classes, Harry was infuriated. She knew he couldn't do anything, so why would she even bother telling him to choose any classes? So because of these reasons, Harry avoided his two best friends.

"Okay. Why not take your broom ..." The moment he said it, Lily had a murderous glare that made her husband feel like 10 inches tall. Harry tried his best to forget that he couldn't ride a broom, but the realization was overwhelming, and he started to cry. Lily came over to her son and hugged him.

"It's okay, Harry. It's okay. We're sorry for bringing it up."

"I'm so sorry son. I wasn't thinking. It just slipped out." Harry was still crying and didn't do anything else.

"Is there nothing you would like to do, Harry?" Lily asked. The boy shook his head.

"Well alright then. If you change your mind, just let us know. Okay, Harry?" He nodded. His parents took their leave and made their way downstairs. Along the way, they could hear Harry sobbing loud enough even though he was trying his best to hide it. When the Potters made it downstairs, Lily put up a silencing charm and began to yell at James.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, JAMES POTTER? HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT TO HIM? YOU KNOW HOW UPSET HARRY'S BEEN EVER SINCE HE FOUND OUT HE COULDN'T FLY!"

"I'm sorry, Lily! I wasn't thinking! I just ..."

"I KNOW YOU WEREN'T THINKING, JAMES! NEXT TIME THINK BEFORE YOU SAY SOMETHING STUPID LIKE THAT AGAIN! DON'T MENTION FLYING AROUND OUR SON! HE HAS IT BAD ENOUGH ALREADY BY BEING TARGETED BY THE PRESS! DON'T MAKE IT ANY WORSE YOU GIT!"

"I'm sorry! I honestly forgot ..."

"YOU FORGOT?! YOU FORGOT THAT HE'S BLIND? ARE YOU A COMPLETE IDIOT? HE IS EXTREMELY UPSET BECAUSE OF YOU! GO UPSTAIRS AND FIX THIS NOW! YOU ARE SLEEPING ON THE COUCH TONIGHT! DON'T BOTHER TRYING TO NEGOTIATE!" She screeched with her wand pointing in his face.

"Yes, Lils ..." James said with his head hung low. He was a little grateful to get out of there because Lily could be ruthless with her arguments and temper. She was right though, James had screwed up big time, and he had to make things right with Harry. The father went up the stairs and found that Harry had made his way to the bathroom. The door was shut.

"Son? You okay in there?" James asked. Harry didn't respond but his father could still hear him through the door. The father knocked again and asked the same thing he had said just a moment ago.

"NO I'M NOT OKAY, DAD!" Harry yelled.

"Harry, I'm really sorry! I just ..."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Harry yelled at his father. If James could see Harry's face, then he could see his son's hurt and anger all over.

"Okay." James said as he sighed one more time. "I'll come back later to check on you. I love you, Harry." The man turned around and went back down the stairs.

Harry continued to cry in the bathroom for a little while longer. He had no concept of time but thought it may have been about 30 minutes since his father tried to talk to him. After temporarily getting over the sadness of not being able to fly his broom, Harry tried his best to make it back to his bedroom without assistance. The boy wasn't in the mood to accept help anyway. He did stumble a few times but eventually reached his destination. If he had to be honest with himself, he wasn't really mad at his father. The boy was under a lot of stress because of the Daily Prophet. When the news got out that he was blinded because of what happened in the Chamber of Secrets, the public was in a bigger frenzy over him than normal. He was already the Boy-Who-Lived, but now he was labeled as the Boy-Who-Lived-Without-Sight. Harry hated the new name.

To go along with the backlash, there were a lot of concerned magical folk who wondered if Harry should even be called the Boy-Who-Lived anymore. Since he was now "a crippled savior" and "a broken hero" the public started to wonder if Harry was even able to survive the killing curse at all, and the story was all made up. Harry thought this was lunacy. Yes, he survived the killing curse but only because his mother and father blocked him from Voldemort, and their love for their son saved not only themselves but baby Harry too. Harry wasn't a supernatural god who couldn't get hurt. He was just as human as everyone else. Now that he was crippled in the public's eye, Harry's fame was starting to turn to infamy.

There was some good that came out of that article in the Daily Prophet. They also took the liberty to smear Gilderoy Lockhart's lies across the front page. If the man was actually sane, then he would have been sent into Azkaban for committing over 20 counts of fraud, and for illegally _Obliviating_ over 30 witches and wizards. But Lockhart was not sane anymore. Since he had lost his memory, the man could only remember anything within a 10 second time span. By the time he was able to ask someone what their name was, he would forget what happened, and ask again. Harry didn't feel bad for the fake Defense Professor's fate.

The shocking detail of the article was that Ginny Weasley was not mentioned once. Harry was thankful the paper did not mention she was responsible for opening the chamber but was mad when he realized that Tom Riddle was also not mentioned. How could the paper not report that? Then again, the press' leak to the story probably had no idea what happened and only focused on Harry, Lockhart, and the students who were released from their petrified state. It figures that the Prophet would only report on the "important issues" and gloss over the little details.

In the coming weeks, Mr. and Mrs. Potter were not having any success in finding a wandless magic professor to tutor their son. Since there were not many witches and wizards who were experts on the subject, the list of possible candidates was incredibly short. The Potters knew they were running out of time because if they could find a suitable tutor, then Harry would have to attend Hogwarts again. Lily and James only wanted to send him back if there was no other option. The adults were starting to lose hope, but after they explained their need to help Harry to Dumbledore, the Headmaster Of Hogwarts flooed over with an interesting solution to their problem.

"Hello, James. Hello, Lily." Dumbledore said. The Potter pair said their hellos. "I understand you are trying to find Harry a teacher to help him with wandless magic. Is this true?" They both said yes.

"I see. Well, wandless magic can be taught, just like any other form of magic, but I believe you are looking at this the wrong way."

"What do you mean, Albus?" James asked.

"Both of you have been searching for someone who is skilled in that area of magic, but most, if not all of the candidates are not going to be of much help. Is this correct?"

"Yes, that's true."

"May I suggest we get someone who is extremely skilled in dueling, formidable with magic and has trained many witches and wizards over the years?"

"Where are we going to find someone like that?"

"That's easy, James. I am talking about Alastor Moody." The Potters looked at Dumbledore with uncertainty.

"Not to disagree with you Albus, but why him? Also, he's not an Auror anymore so wouldn't that make him a little rusty? We need someone who can think and act fast if they are going to train my son."

"I agree. That's why I am recommending him. While he may not look like someone who could keep up, Alastor has one of the most brilliant minds in England when it comes to magical theory, magical analysis, and defense. His need for "constant vigilance" is what has made dark wizards fear him and others respect him." Dumbledore said.

"Would he even agree to do this? I remember from the Order meetings that he was very grumpy and cynical about your ideas." Lily asked.

"I have already asked Alastor about this in case you were interested. While he may not sound like it, Alastor is more than willing to take your son as his student for wandless magic." James and Lily were starting to feel a little better about this decision but there was one detail that Lily wanted to know.

"If he is as good as you say, Dumbledore, then why aren't you a master of wandless magic by now? Surely someone of your talents could learn this ability from Moody with your eyes closed."

"Ah yes. I thought one of you might ask me. I honestly have no desire to learn wandless magic. While I can perform some spells without any assistance, it is very taxing on the body, and mine is not as young as it once was." This answer made sense to Lily.

"Now we must plan these lessons. I am suggesting that we set up a large practice area inside of Hogwarts for Alastor to train your son." Dumbledore tried to say before he was interrupted.

"Forgive me for saying so, Dumbledore, but we do not want to send Harry back to Hogwarts unless it is unavoidable." Lily stated.

"Oh?"

"Harry has enough of a hard time here as it is, so trying to navigate around the castle is going to be difficult. Not to mention casting spells and creating potions will also be a hassle. We feel if he is here, then we can continue to help him as much as possible." She continued.

"I see. I will be sad that Harry may not come back, but should you change your mind, please let McGonagall or myself know." James and Lily were grateful that Dumbledore understood.

"So if we cannot use Hogwarts, what can we use instead?"

"I can ask Alastor if there are any spare rooms available for your son to use inside the Ministry of Magic. Other than that I am not sure."

"We should probably avoid the ministry too. The Daily Prophet has written a lot of unpleasant articles about Harry lately." James explained.

"Alas, you are right, my boy. Hmm. Well, I do have one more idea. Before you say anything, please listen to what I have to say." The Potters nodded. "Inside of Hogwarts, there is a special room that can only be accessed if the person walks in front of it three times while thinking of what they require. When the doors appear, the room will change into whatever the user wanted. The elves call it the Room of Requirement or the "Come-and-go-room". The room would be completely hidden from the staff and students because no one other than myself or the elves know if its location. Even if someone were to come close, we can put a few notice-me-not spells on the room. Also, we can make it so Harry can floo directly into the room instead of having to walk outside the room. Does this sound like a plausible idea?"

The Potters really liked the idea but felt it would do them some good to see the room before a decision was made. After agreeing to at least getting a tour of the room, Dumbledore was asked to wait in the living room while Harry was brought downstairs to see if this would be a good idea.

"Ah, Harry! It is good to see you. How have you been?" The old wizard asked as Harry came down the stairs.

"Fine sir." Harry said but he was not particularly happy at the moment. Dumbledore just decided to get down to business. Something told him that it would be better to just skip the pleasantries.

"Harry we have something to discuss with you. Your parents and I may have found a teacher who could teach you in wandless magic. Not only that, but you and your professor would meet in a special room that transforms into whatever you would require for training. Your parents already informed me you did want to give wandless magic a try. Are you still interested?"

"Yes, sir."

"Wonderful. I shall reach out to your new professor immediately. I want you to be on the lookout for my letter on the next steps of your training. Have a good rest of your summer." And with that Dumbledore flooed away.

Lily and James met Dumbledore the following day and saw the Room of Requirement. The parents were ecstatic for their son and couldn't wait until he could use the full potential of the room. It was decided that Harry and Alastor would train here after that. Two days later, Albus Dumbledore's Phoenix, Fawkes, delivered his letter with instructions on Harry's new classes. It was the 31st of August and the letter indicated that training would begin tomorrow at 9:00 AM by going through the floo network and saying the words "Room of Requirement". Even though it was going to be a very long and uphill battle, Harry was a little excited about going to class. That is until he met with his professor for the first time.

* * *

Ok, I'm done with this chapter.

Like before with my "Interesting Turn of Events" story, I'm going to start responding to my reviews/comments from now on in my stories.

RAVENCLAWDISTRICT1: Thanks I really appreciate the support. I want to write this story and I hope all of you will enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

"Guest": Thanks. I don't know what your username is but thanks for reviewing.

As always feel free to like, share, and comment if you are up to it.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: This story is 100% alternate universe and most, if not all, of the characters in this story are out of character as well. Also I don't own anything by J.K. Rowling and I am not trying to steal her characters, plots, or moments within the books that she has written. This is my own story and I also claim to not copy off of anyone else's work either in the process.

 **Chapter 2**

Ever since Harry was given over to Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the boy was put through the most grueling training in his life. The ex-Auror was tough, expected perfection, and was sometimes just downright unfair, but what else would you expect from a Slytherin?

When Lily and James were advised by Dumbledore to let Alastor train their boy, they were very worried. They had met the man a few times during their Order of the Phoenix meetings, and he was paranoid and edgy. One of his eyes was replaced from a battle with Death Eaters and with it, he could see five times better than any human, detect someone if they were invisible, and could see through walls if he wanted to. It did throw off his other eye at first, but with a few charms, he was able to deal with the strain. One of the man's legs was replaced with a magical artificial one that was lost from a battle with werewolves. He once said that if he was ever bitten by one of those beasts, he would kill himself before ever turning into a mindless animal. And finally, Alastor didn't use a wand per say. His wand was infused within a staff since using a wand threw off his balance. He needed something sturdier to keep his leg stabilized and keep his foes guessing what he would do. He would never tell anyone, but using a staff was far superior to a wand in terms of power.

The first day of training threw everything Harry knew on his head. He remembered that day very well.

* * *

Harry was left in the Room of Requirement while Lily and James had gone out for the day. The ex-Auror showed up a minute after they exited and the man was determined to get started right away. Within the first minute of meeting each other, Alastor demanded that Harry hand over his wand, and then he snapped it.

"Why did you do that?" Harry asked with some anger.

"That wand won't save you, boy. Your wand shares the same core with Voldemort, right?" Harry was a little shocked.

"How do you know about that?"

"It's amazing what Dumbledore knows. Also, it's been written in the Ministry of Magic, Potter. Now listen. This wand is useless to you. The only thing that wand will do is cause _Priori Incantatem_ , which means it will cause your wand to be evenly matched against the Dark Lord when he returns. As it is, neither wand will be more powerful than the other. We need you to be better than him. That means getting something better than a wand."

"What could be better than that?"

"You're getting a staff, boy. That should fix some of your problems." Moody growled.

"How will a staff help me, sir?"

"Stop with the sir business, Potter. I am not a sir and nor am I Alastor Moody to you. Call me Mad-Eye."

"Okay, Mad-Eye. So how will a staff help me?"

"No time for that now. We are behind schedule. Come with me, and you'll understand in time."

Mad-Eye picked up the contents inside of Harry's wand, flooed to Diagon Alley, and dragged the boy over to a store in Knockturn Alley. Moody never mentioned where the store was and Harry never questioned where they were going. After a few minutes of walking around, the pair finally stopped in front of a store that Moody never mentioned what the name was.

"Davis, I know you're here! Come out where I can see you!" Moody roared. In less than ten seconds the guy known as Davis came out from the back room. Harry was glad he couldn't see Mad-Eye's expression right now because if he could it would most likely be vicious. Before Davis could even respond, Moody took control of the conversation.

"I need a staff for the boy." Davis sneered at the old man and the boy.

"I don't make staffs for children, Alastor."

"This boy is more important than any other child, Davis. Take a look at his scar." Davis looked and could see the famous lightning bolt scar that could only belong to Harry James Potter. He wasn't fazed by it at all.

"I don't care if he is the chosen one. I don't make staffs for children." The man huffed. "Why would he need a staff anyway? I'm sure he has a perfectly useable wand. Or is that not good enough for you, Potter?" Harry scowled.

"Don't ask questions, Davis. Our business is our own." The man took the broken wand and put it directly on the counter. "Here are the pieces of his wand. We also need other materials to make it powerful. Give the staff a dragon heartstring, do not use his Phoenix feather and use another instead, and craft the staff from willow wood in combination with yew. Use only a little of the wood from his wand but nothing else. Get the staff made in 24 hours."

"Are you insane? It takes a few days to get one made!" Mad-Eye threw a very large bag of galleons on the counter. The shop owner's eyes widened.

"If you can finish it in 12 hours, there's more galleons in it for you. You can keep the Phoenix feather." Davis nodded his head in understanding. "Fire-chat me when it's ready. We were never here." Davis nodded again and didn't say anything.

Harry and Moody left the store right away. The duo traveled back to the main square of Diagon Alley and headed right. Harry could hear the sounds of feet hitting the ground around him. He hadn't been out of the house ever since he was taken home from school, so hearing the sounds around him were louder than normal. As they passed the other stores, Harry could smell food around him that seemed to be very close, but was in fact about 100 feet away. Harry looked around for the direction the smell could be coming from but couldn't pinpoint it. Moody noticed what he was doing.

"You understand what's happening, Potter? The sounds and smells around you are intense because one of your senses are cut off. When one sense leaves, the others gain more power, and it makes you invincible. With training, your hearing should be able to pick up sounds from miles away, and your sense of smell can determine everything on someone from their hair care products to what they had for dinner last night. It's your magic that makes all of this possible. Trust your magic, and you will overcome any obstacle."

"What about the rest of the senses?"

"When your abilities are stronger, I will teach you the fundamentals of taste and touch. Worry about hearing and smell, for now, Potter."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"I used to train Aurors for a few years. I had them do similar exercises in case something should ever happen where they didn't have a wand." Harry was shocked.

"Stop right here." Mad-Eye said as they abruptly stopped moving. The two were right in front of Gringotts but the older man was not going to tell the boy that.

"Here is your first lesson. Where are we, Potter?" The boy had no idea what the answer was. How the hell was Harry supposed to answer that?

"I don't know, sir."

"What did I say, Potter? It's Mad-Eye. You need to be constantly in tune with your senses and use constant vigilance to get anywhere! Now focus. What do you hear? Can you smell anything?"

Harry tried his best to listen in on any conversations around him but everything was too loud. The sounds overlapped each other and it sounded like hundreds of people were talking at once. Maybe this was a clue. Where did a lot of people come and go? Well, he knew Flourish and Blotts was one of those stores, but since it was September 1st there would be a lot fewer people. So back to the question: where did a lot of people come and go? Harry still wasn't sure so he tried his best to listen to a specific conversation nearby. The only problem was focusing on just one. Then, as if his luck somehow grew, Harry could hear an irate man in the background complaining about the service. He had been waiting for over 30 minutes and only wanted to open a new account. Harry now knew where they were.

"Gringotts. That's where we are, Mad-Eye."

"Very good, Potter. You may survive my training yet." Mad-Eye growled but not in anger. "How could you tell?"

"I heard someone in the back complaining about the service. He had been waiting in line for over 30 minutes."

"Well done. I could hear that man too. He was only 50 feet away. Soon you will be able to hear from longer distances. Come on, Potter. Let's go." Harry and Alastor made their way back to the apparation point in Diagon Alley, and the pair went directly back to the Potter Mansion on the outskirts of Godric's Hollow.

"That's all I will teach you today, Potter. Get some rest because I am going to push your physical and mental limits. With any luck, we will have your staff ready as well." Mad-Eye said. Harry gulped but nodded anyway.

The boy went inside where he was greeted by his parents. The pair were surprised by their son's good mood, and his eagerness to start training the next day. The three decided to celebrate in a nearby restaurant that Harry particularly enjoyed. The only thing that bothered the parents was that Moody snapped his wand. But if he could produce results, then they would overlook that rash decision.

* * *

Harry received his staff the next day and was quickly overwhelmed with power. From what Mad-Eye explained, *yew wood gave the wizard the power over life and death and gave them an easier time with darker curses like necromancy and various harmful spells. Willow wood gave the user advanced prowess in advanced non-verbal magic. The dragon heartstring's job was to make the wand, or in this case the staff, incredibly loyal to the user, so Harry didn't have to worry about his staff having a new master. Finally, the phoenix feather gave Harry a greater spell casting range.* The combination of all these ingredients was going to help Harry with his prowess in wandless magic, and vastly difficult to defeat in a duel. As an added bonus, even though Harry couldn't see the entire effect, the staff had a small orb on top that was black as night but would change colors based on the spell that was used.

It only took a day for Harry to master his magic staff. Within the first day, Harry learned that the staff was strongly synced to his magical core. The result created pulse waves around the boy when it hit the ground, which would help him technically see. The waves revealed items, curses, and even people within a 100 feet radius, which came reflected back into his eyes with a black and white color scheme. Harry was so overcome with joy and tried to hug Mad-Eye, but the ex-Auror pushed the boy back. He wasn't the type to handle appreciation.

On day two, Mad-Eye taught Harry an advanced form of a spell that combined charms and transfiguration magic. ^This spell was unique because it would disguise his staff as a wand^. Using a staff was going to attract a lot of attraction to him, and this weapon had to be hidden from dark wizards at all cost. Alastor cast the spell on his own staff and Harry was able to study the pronunciation. Then the young man realized something.

"Mad-Eye, if my staff is going to look like a wand, how will I be able to use it to see?"

"There's only one way, boy. Use your head!" Harry thought about it and realized there really was only one way.

"I have to have the wand on me, don't I? That way when I walk I can see everything around me."

"Correct, Potter. You can either use a wand holster or you can find a place on you to hold it secure. I suggest using the holster so it will be difficult for other wizards to take it from you." Harry nodded. He was going to have to get one soon.

After saying the unique spell, Harry was able to change his staff into a wand. He wasn't sure how he exactly did this, but the magic responded so well to his command that it happened. When he kept it in his hand, the pulses from before resonated with every single step just as the staff did. As Mad-Eye said, he needed a place to keep it, so he just gripped it in his hand. Harry noticed that the orb changed places from the top of his staff to the bottom of the wand. Changing the wand back into a staff was trickier but not by much. It required the same amount of power, but the pronunciation was weird.

Day three was a challenge for Harry. Instead of trying to use staff, the boy was instructed to do physical exercises to increase his stamina. As Mad-Eye put it, Harry wouldn't always be able to rely on his tool, plus it would do him some good to work out. The boy thought the man was crazy, but this needed to be done.

"If you ever find yourself without your staff, then you will have to rely on your other senses. Even without it, you do have some of the power leftover." Mad-Eye grunted. "I'm going to try and hit you, Potter. I want you to anticipate my attack and block me. If not, it will hurt you. Use your sight and try to find me."

Harry suddenly blocked all other thoughts from his mind. He needed to focus on the incoming blow. While trying to use the same technique from Gringotts, Moody was able to punch Harry in the gut. He wasn't even able to see the man from behind with his new sight.

"Ugh!" Harry said as he fell to the floor. His stomach had a bit of pain.

"Get up, boy, and try again. Use constant vigilance and focus on your surroundings."

Harry cleared his mind again and focused on the sounds around him since his sight may fail him again. This time Harry could hear silent footsteps coming from his backside. As the steps got closer, Harry could hear the sound of the older man's fist being cocked back and thrust. The boy threw himself out of the way in time.

"Nice work, Potter. Try not to throw your entire body out of the way next time. You will use more energy and make you defenseless. We will perfect this technique next week. Now let's do it again!" Harry groaned.

Day four was the foundation of learning wandless magic. Well not exactly. Harry discovered very quickly that without his staff, he couldn't cast spells wandlessly. The target was a mere feather and the wizard couldn't move it at all. He must have tried to use his hands to project magic dozens of times before giving up. Then Mad-Eye tried something else.

"Grab your staff, Potter."

"But I can't have it to cast spells wandlessly!"

"Do as I say, boy!" Harry had wisely shut up after that and grabbed his staff with his right hand. "I want you to cast Wingardium Leviosa with your left hand and don't move your staff."

Harry did as the older man asked and found he couldn't do that either. Harry was used to pointing his wand, or staff in this case, at something and then the spell would work. It apparently didn't apply if the staff was not moving and he used his hand instead.

"It didn't work. What was the point of that?"

"Quiet! Now try again. Say the spell in your mind and use your hand to cast. Don't move your staff again." Harry tried saying the spell again in his mind and discovered that it didn't work that time either.

"Transfigure your staff into a wand and put it in your pocket." Harry rolled his eyes and did as the man asked. "Try to cast Wingardium again while only moving your hands."

Harry moved his right hand up and created a pulse wave again to see his target. He tried using both hands and discovered the feather moved a little. The boy was a little surprised that it worked.

"Try again. You're not focused. Clear your mind and use more force this time."

"Okay." Harry said with some irritation. It wasn't like he wasn't trying already. This stuff was hard! The boy tried his best to block out the negative thoughts of his mind, and wandlessly cast Wingardium Leviosa again. The feather flew an inch! Harry smiled. He was starting to feel a lot more positive.

"You're close, boy. Do it again, and REALLY use your power to move the feather!" Moody barked.

Harry nodded and threw as much power as he possibly could into his hands. The feather flew fifty feet in the air and landed in a smoldering pile of ash when it stopped falling. Harry could feel the little pile of ash hit the ground, and he was trying his best not to scream in joy. Although he wouldn't do that anyway since he tired himself out from all the power he used.

"Why did it work that time, Potter?" Harry was about to answer with his typical answer of "I don't know" but was tired of Mad-Eye sniping him about that. After a moment of thinking, he tried answering.

"I was focusing on what I was taught before. The point was to aim, flick, and cast a spell with your wand while using some power behind it. Since I wasn't moving my wand at all, I couldn't apply the same rules as before. That's why you wanted me to stand still, wasn't it? I had to rely on no movement to cast the spell." Alastor was a little proud of his pupil.

"Anything else?"

"Maybe it's also the staff. It's too big and would slow me down if I wanted to use wandless magic. When it's a wand, the staff is lighter and flexible. That way when it's on me, I don't have to carry a staff around, and I can still cast spells without a massive tool in my hands." Alastor was glad that the boy was thinking but he was still looking for another answer.

"You're still overlooking the main point. What else would cause you to cast that spell wandlessly?" Harry was running out of ideas but tried anyway.

"It could be that when I have my wand on me it acts as an unlimited power source. With it, I can supercharge my spells and allow me to use wandless magic." Alastor sighed. He was correct on all of these answers but the boy was still overlooking the most important part.

"You're still forgetting something, boy. You weren't able to cast the spells without a wand because you weren't confident. You lacked the confidence to achieve your goals. Without it, you are powerless to your thoughts. Everything you said already was correct, but if there's anything I can reach you, it would be to get some confidence." Harry nodded.

"That's enough for today. We will continue this later."

From that point on, the training fell into a repetitive cycle. Physical exercise, conjuring, spell casting, sight exercises, projected hearing, heightening his sense of smell, and advanced potion making. Harry did prefer Moody's teaching method to potions instead of Snape's because the ex-Auror would explain everything before Harry did it. He also couldn't take away house points for being a dunderhead.

After a month of Alastor's training, not only were Lily and James astounded by the quick results, but they actually thanked Dumbledore for his idea and almost started worshiping the ex-Auror. Moody threatened to quit if they did. After training Harry with advanced techniques in pulsed sight, hearing, and smell, Moody thought it was time to focus on the other two senses: touch and taste. The first thing the two focused on was touch.

"We're going to do something different today, Potter. I want you to come over and touch my arm." Harry thought the old man had lost it but obeyed his command. When Harry did as he was asked nothing happened.

"Is something supposed to happen?" He asked.

"Yes. Did you not feel anything go through your body?"

"No."

"Project your sight and then touch my arm." Harry tapped his staff to the ground and then touched the man's arm. The moment he did, Harry could feel everything the ex-Auror could.

"I ... I can feel the pulse of your heart, feel your emotions, and hear your thoughts. This is incredible! I've never felt anything like this before!"

"Good. Now that you can feel what's going on inside me, I want to try a test. Listen and see if you can tell when I'm lying." Harry nodded.

"I am a Slytherin." Alastor's heartbeat did not change.

"I was once an Auror." There was still no change.

"I have a sister." After hearing this, Harry noticed that Mad-Eye's pulse quickened.

"That was a lie. You and I both know you don't have any siblings." Harry stated.

"Correct. With time you will be able to detect lies from others without having to touch them, but your prowess with touch will always be greater when you do use it." Harry nodded.

"Now for taste. This is going to be hard, Potter, but I want you to try this when you go home. Tap your staff like you did before then eat something. You may not be able to do this at all yet, because taste is the most powerful of all senses for you to learn. Determine what is inside your food and report it to me tomorrow." Harry obeyed.

When he did go home that night, the boy discovered that he couldn't determine everything that was in his food. After trying again with his staff, Harry only got the same result. It took two weeks for Harry to notice any changes. James was told by Moody to put some sneezing powder in his drink. Before Harry tried to taste his drink, he could feel something was off. The goblet with his pumpkin juice glowed around the outside. Harry could tell something was wrong, so he asked his parents what was put in his drink. James revealed that he put in sneezing powder on Moody's orders. The boy felt better that he could control the little power he had over taste.

Harry's prowess with magic and physique increased over time, and in the blink of an eye, it was one year later from their first day of training. Mad-Eye may not have shown it, but he was going to miss these sessions with Harry. He wouldn't ever admit it though. On the last day of their training before Harry went back to Hogwarts for his fourth year of school, Mad-Eye addressed his apprentice.

"Congratulations, Potter, you have survived my training. You are stronger with your magic, you have more strength and stamina from when we first started, you can cast almost any spell wandlessly, and finally, you are confident. You no longer need any further training from me. I think it's time for you to return to Hogwarts."

"I agree. I would be great to see my friends again. I also want to get out of the Room of Requirement for a while."

"I bet you would. I'm sick of this place too." Harry laughed a little. "I'm ending training early today. Get your things packed for tomorrow because you leave for the castle. I'll be keeping an eye on you while I'm your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

"Really? That's great, Mad-Eye!"

"Don't get soft on me boy. I won't give you any special treatment in class. In fact, I expect you to do even better than them because you learned from the best. I'm not bragging, Potter, it's simply a fact. Most Aurors wouldn't have survived without my training, and you wouldn't have either without my guidance. You better be at the top of the class, or else I'll make a mockery of you like I did last week with our duel."

"That wasn't fair and you know it. You had two wands!" Alastor got very close to Harry so he could intimidate him.

"Here's one last piece of advice, Potter. Don't ever expect your foes to play fair. Voldemort won't, and neither will his Death Eaters. Expect the unexpected, and destroy your opponent before they gain the upper hand. Do I make myself clear?" Moody growled.

"Perfectly." The boy wasn't scared of his teacher. Over the last year, he had gotten used to the man's form of scare tactics and they no longer worked on him. Alastor then sent the boy back through the floo. Harry arrived moments later back inside Potter Manor where his mother was waiting for him.

"Hello, Harry. Are you done for the day?" He nodded.

"Yes. I finished training and I can go back to school now." The boy said with a smile.

"Oh, that's wonderful, sweetie! I'm very proud of you." Lily Potter said while taking her son into a hug. "I'm so happy you're happy. Last year when you first lost your sight, I felt so useless because I didn't know how to help you. Your father and I both want you to know that we couldn't be prouder of what you've accomplished. We love you son." Harry was getting a little emotional but tried his best to not cry.

"Thanks, Mum. I love you both. Thank you for not giving up on me. I know I wasn't the easiest to deal with, but I'm glad you agreed with Dumbledore and made Moody my teacher. Oh, that reminds me, he's going to become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year."

Lily groaned. While Alastor Moody was a brilliant man, he was sure to ruffle a few feathers and make some people uncomfortable in the process.

"Please keep him in line, Harry. I don't want other parents complaining because he taught the students how to cast the killing curse." Harry laughed.

"I wouldn't put it past him, Mum." Harry stated. "This is the same guy who didn't allow me to see my friends for a year because he thought it would distract my progress." Lily didn't like that part of Moody's training. Harry needed to be in contact with his friends, and what that crazy man was suggesting was ludicrous. Harry did say multiple times that it was fine, but Mrs. Potter could tell he was only trying to stay positive. Thankfully Harry was going to be around his friends again. Being around Alastor for that long was sure to drive anyone crazy.

"I'll never understand that man. It's going to be even harder when he becomes your teacher this year. Of course, he decides to become a professor when I am too. I am so thankful he's not teaching Ancient Runes. I don't want him anywhere near my class."

"I'm glad you're going to be teaching Ancient Runes, Mum. I wouldn't mind having my mother be the teacher in my class. Just don't embarrass me please." Lily laughed.

"I won't embarrass you, Harry. I'm a professional when I teach and I don't play favorites. I expect you to be the best in the class young man. You should be, after all, I taught you everything I know."

"Mad-Eye said the same thing to me today. I guess you both want me to be the best." He said.

"Well, that's one thing we can both agree on. Come on, Harry. Let's go get your things ready for tomorrow."

The day went by fast after that. Harry and Lily spent much of their time together just talking or reading. When James came home, he was over the moon when his son announced that training was over. The man felt it was wrong to isolate Harry from his friends, and now his son could get his life back to where it was. James Potter wasn't thrilled with Moody's teaching methods either. He thought Dumbledore was daft when the old man hired the ex-Auror, but didn't say anything because he knew he owed the Headmaster big time for getting Harry training. As the night came, Lily and James sent their son to bed, while they sat in the living room and talked. Life was good for the parents, but they were nervous about Harry going back. Realizing there wasn't anything they could do, the Potters went to sleep as well. Tomorrow would be difficult for them since Harry had been at home for a year in the mansion. Their son had to go back though, so they kept a level head for his sake.

* * *

 _* = The information about the wand wood and ingredients was provided by Pottermore._

 _^ = This spell doesn't exist, but I wanted it to mimic the disillusion spell. I made the rest up._

* * *

 **A/N: Got more comments to respond to:**

Mithrilandtj: thanks for pointing that out. I really forgot about Lily being a muggle-born. So thanks for calling me out. It's now fixed to where she isn't a muggle-born and is instead a pure-blood.

Anarion87: thanks I appreciate the comment.

Triggbc: thanks as always.

I'll be posting more soon. But I'll update my other stories first. Thanks again.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: This story is 100% alternate universe and most, if not all, of the characters in this story are out of character as well. Also I don't own anything by J.K. Rowling and I am not trying to steal her characters, plots, or moments within the books that she has written. This is my own story and I also claim to not copy off of anyone else's work either in the process.

 **Chapter 3**

The morning of September 1st, 1994 was hectic once again for the Weasley family. It always came down to the final minutes before the train left, and this year was no exception. After rushing through the barrier of Platform 9 and 3/4, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny quickly threw their things on the train before it decided to leave them behind. After waving goodbye to their mother, father, and brother Charlie, who was there for suspicious circumstances, the teenagers decided to head into their separate compartments. Fred and George went off to find their friend Lee Jordan, Ron went in another direction to find Hermione and Neville, while Ginny went by herself to a compartment with no one inside. She wanted to be by herself anyway. No one would want to be around her, and she was getting used to the isolation, but it wasn't by choice.

After the events in the Chamber of Secrets, the news about her involvement somehow got spread around like a plague in her second year. Ginny had a suspicious feeling that Ron was behind it, but couldn't prove it. Ron blamed Ginny for everything that happened last year, even though it wasn't her fault. Hermione wasn't much better as she sided with Ron, and even Neville decided to group up with them to guilt trip her. After Ginny was revealed to be the one responsible for opening the chamber, the hate and bullying towards her turned on in full force overnight. The pranks and verbal abuse usually sent her into a frenzy of non-stop crying sessions. When the young girl tried to get her teachers involved, their assistance only helped a little. It would only take a week or two later before the attacks would begin again.

Each night when Ginny went to bed, she was visited by her nightmarish terrors from the Chamber of Secrets. Tom was standing over her, had sucked out her entire life force and Harry laid dead next to her corpse. Then the basilisk ate her body and it would be the last thing she always saw before waking up screaming. Her brothers hated her screaming so much at home so Mr. and Mrs. Weasley decided to put up silencing charms on their daughter's door. Ginny's parents tried their best to cure her of nightmares but nothing ever worked. At best the girl got about 5 hours of sleep a night, but most nights she got only 3. It was taxing at first, but her body got used to the lack of sleep.

Ginny was also blamed for Harry going blind and his withdrawal from Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione were angry at Ginny for harming their friend, and they made sure everyone knew about it. When that was revealed to everyone, the entire school turned against her even more, with the exception of Professor Snape since he hated the Potter brat and Professor Lupin who knew that Harry was okay despite his injury. Ginny's childhood friend Luna tried to be there in the beginning, but she eventually stopped caring when the girl was becoming a pariah of the Ravenclaw House. Luna broke off her friendship with her redhead friend a month after she was outed. Ginny was left without a friend and hated by almost everyone, so she turned to Remus Lupin as her only source of support. She never got any direct answers from her professor about Harry's health, but Ginny was grateful that someone was talking to her at all. It broke her heart when Professor Lupin was forced to leave at the end of the year because he was revealed as a werewolf.

The rest of the year dragged on slowly for the poor girl. When it was finally time to leave Hogwarts, Ginny couldn't get on the train fast enough. The entire summer was better than her second year of school simply because she only had her family around her instead of the entire student body. Ginny was excited for the Quidditch World Cup about a month later in the summer, but she was almost killed by the Death Eaters that stormed in after the match. All of the Weasleys that attended the cup were unharmed but shaken up because of the chaos. Ron found it fitting to blame Ginny for that too because his simple mind believed she was a Death Eater in training. That comment sent the girl into a deep spiral of depression. It was bad enough to be picked on and insulted at school, but now she was blamed for being part of a group for worshiping a murdering lunatic by her own flesh and blood. Ginny knew from that point that Ron was dead to her. If he couldn't see that Ginny would never want to become a Death Eater, then he was truly lost.

Ginny did not want to head back to school and face another year of hell inside the castle but didn't have a choice. With reluctance, she followed her family to the Hogwarts Express and got on. Her brothers ditched her, as usual, and she went into the very back of the train so she wouldn't be found. When she reached the last compartment of the train, Ginny locked the door and started crying. The small girl prayed to every magical deity that something good would happen this year, and she would finally have a friend again. She didn't care if only one person could tolerate her presence. One person was better than no one and the redhead girl didn't want to be isolated again.

It took several hours, but eventually, the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station. The kids bustled themselves out of their compartments and made their way towards the castle while the first years made their way over to the boats. Ginny got into a carriage with her twin brothers, while Ron, Hermione, and Neville got into another carriage that was farther behind. The ride to the castle was difficult due to the weather. The rain caused the carriages to be slowed down and most of them got stuck in the mud along the way.

The first years were sorted in under 15 minutes. Most of them ended up in Ravenclaw. A majority of the remainder were almost split up evenly between Gryffindor and Slytherin, while Hufflepuff got the least. Before Dumbledore announced the feast to begin, the old wizard had several announcements.

"Hello and welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Before we get started with our opening feast, I have several new term announcements to make. First years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. I also have a few changes to the staff that I would like to address. Over the summer, Professor Bathsheda left her position as teacher of Ancient Runes, for which we wish her prosperity in the future. The staff and I are very pleased to introduce the new professor for Ancient Runes right now. Please give a big Hogwarts welcome to Professor Lily Potter!"

The entire hall erupted in applause with the exception of half the Slytherins. It seemed that there were a lot of people happy to see Lily take over the role of the Ancient Runes professor. The beautiful redhead professor came out from the back and introduced herself. She was very grateful for the opportunity to teach and was looking forward to starting classes on Monday. When she finished, the new teacher sat down next to her old friend Severus Snape and they started talking. It was just like when they were kids. There was no animosity between the two at all, and even though Lily married James, Severus still kept in contact with her. The only reason why Snape hated Harry was because he looked so much like James: the man who married Lily instead of him. Since Lily was teaching at Hogwarts, Severus knew he had to be nicer to Harry. The potions master knew he should have done this ages ago with Lily's son, but his bitterness took control. The black-haired professor vowed he would be better to Harry, even if they never became friends. While Lily and Severus were catching up, Dumbledore took over again.

"Well done, Professor Potter, and thank you for your gratifying speech! Now on to the position for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Due to the unfortunate circumstances regarding Professor Lupin's departure, we searched for someone who was not only familiar with the ways of dark witches and wizards but has had several years of teaching their peers to make them extremely successful. There was only one man we knew who could take over the job and I am glad to say that he has accepted the position. Please give me another Hogwarts welcome for Professor Alastor Moody."

The Great Hall was not as excited for Alastor Moody like they were for Lily Potter. Most people who knew about this man were interested to see what kind of teaching methods this aggressively cautious wizard would use. Alastor's speech was short and sweet about being on your guard and always to expect the unexpected. When he finished, the man sat down as far away from Lily Potter as possible. It wasn't by choice because Lily gave the guy a glare that even sent him some chills.

"Thank you, Professor Moody! We are certainly glad to have you here. Now I realize you all will want to start eating, but I only have two more announcements to make. The first is that this year Hogwarts has been chosen to participate in a legendary event that hasn't occurred in over a century: The Tri-Wizard Tournament. We will discuss this in greater detail later." The students started gossiping and spreading rumors about what this could possibly mean, but there were a few students, like Hermione Granger, who already knew what the tournament was about.

"Settle down, please! Now then. My last announcement is one that I am extremely proud to make." The students were hanging on to Dumbledore's every word. What news could possibly be better than the Tri-Wizard tournament?

Having guessed what the news was, Ginny found it difficult to breathe. The biggest giveaway was Mrs. Potter becoming a new professor at Hogwarts. Why wouldn't Harry come back if his mum was here? If Ginny was correct, then her worst fears were about to come true.

"Over a year ago, the attacks from the monster inside the Chamber of Secrets left several students in a petrified state. While the staff and I were overjoyed to learn that all of these students were cured by the end of the year, there was one student who had to be sent home due to an unforeseen injury."

 _"Oh no! They're going to say Harry is coming back! What do I do?! I can't possibly face him! He'll torment me for the rest of my life and there'd be nothing I could do to stop him!"_ She suddenly gasped with more fear when an extremely important thought came up. _"I owe Harry a life debt! He can ask for anything since he saved my life! Harry, I'm sorry, but please I hope you aren't returning."_ Ginny thought.

"Ever since his injury, he has been in constant training his new abilities in hopes of coming back to school to finish his education. Now that he is fully trained, the boy has requested to come back. Please give me one last Hogwarts welcome to Mr. Harry James Potter!"

Almost everyone in the Great Hall loudly gasped in surprise, but Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Neville did not. The group of 3 and the isolated redhead, watched as Harry came through the front doors of the Great Hall. His hair was shorter even though it was still somewhat of a rats nest, he had a dark pair of sunglasses on so no one would question his blindness, and he was dressed in his Hogwarts school robes. As the boy made his way to the front, no one said anything because they were too shocked or too pissed off that he had come back. Harry stopped in front of the podium and addressed his classmates. He was a little nervous and it didn't help that his mother was sitting right behind him.

"Thank you, Professor. I just wanted to say that I'm glad I'm back. I have always felt that Hogwarts was a second home and to be away for so long was tough. I know that going into the Chamber of Secrets might have gone horribly wrong, but I didn't care. Someone I knew was in trouble. I would have gone after her again if given the chance, but I really don't want to fight the snake again." A lot of people laughed at that comment. Ginny blushed a little when he talked about saving her life. Even though she was afraid of him, the girl was eternally grateful to be alive. No matter what happened, she owed him big time. When the students quieted, he continued.

"I'm thankful that everyone who was petrified is now fully healed. It was difficult for me to sit by as I watched one of my closest friends become petrified. When I learned she was okay, I was overjoyed with relief, but I'm sure all of you were happy about your fellow classmates being okay too. I only hope that you all have moved on from the attacks like I have. We can't focus on the past and instead must look ahead to the future. Like my mother said earlier, I'm excited for classes to start again too. That's all I have to say."

With the exception of some of the "Potter Haters" in each house, the rest of the Great Hall shouted in applause. The boy was touched that these people were happy he was back. The feeling of joy spread throughout his whole body and he could feel the positive energy in the room. As Harry made his way over to the Gryffindor table, he sensed Ron and Hermione right away. Before Harry could even sit down, Hermione flung herself at him and Ron was not far behind. The three embraced in a long overdue hug and Harry was a little emotional from their reunion. No words were said and none were needed. The joy that spread through his body grew to a whole new level. He really missed his closest friends and was glad to be with them again. Harry was guided back to the Gryffindor table by Hermione with Ron trailing behind. The three sat next to Neville.

"Harry it's wonderful to see you again! I can't believe it's been so long!" Hermione said with some tears in her eyes. Everyone started eating in the background and tried to block out Harry interacting with his friends again.

"Welcome back, mate! We sure missed having you around. Of course, last year turned out to be normal for once after you left. Maybe you should go back!" Ron jokingly said. Hermione sent a glare at him that would kill everyone in the room at her friend while Harry laughed.

"Thanks, Ron. I'll try to make things as normal as possible." Harry said. Before things continued, he had one more important thing to say.

"Guys I want to say I'm sorry. I never did write or tell you how I was, but I wasn't mad at any of you. Professor Moody taught me all last year on how to manage my abilities, and he forbid me to contact anyone. He said it would disrupt my progress and make me unfocused. I hope you can all forgive me." He said. All three of them forgave him instantly. No one cared that he was not speaking to them, they were just glad to have him back. With a lot more positivity, Harry realized he was lucky to have friends who really cared about him. The boy then turned his attention to Neville.

"Hey, Neville. It's great to see you again!"

"It's great to see you too, Harry. But ... um ... how can you see? I thought you were blind?"

"Well, the simple answer is I can see even though I can't. I use my magic to create a pulse around me to technically see."

"What do you mean, Harry?" Hermione asked. He sighed.

"When I create a pulse, it bounces around the room like sound, but I can only see black or white. I can see even more than a regular person can because of three distinct features. One is that I can get a sense of everyone around me within a mile radius, and see them coming. The second is that I can pick up other people's emotions and determine if they're lying to me. And the third ability ... well ..." Harry tried to finish but he could only muster a laugh.

"What's so funny, Harry?"

"Let's just say if I ever decide to become a pervert this would be the best way to start." Harry said as he continued to chuckle. Hermione picked up on his comment immediately and smacked him in the arm, while Ron and Neville were left confused.

"He means he has x-ray vision."

"Wha?" Ron asked with his mouth full. Neville was confused too.

"He can see through walls and people's clothing, Ronald!" Ron spit out his food when he heard that. He was already coming up with many different ideas on how to use that to his advantage.

"Wow, Harry. That's amazing." Neville said. Harry sighed again.

"Not entirely. I miss being able to look at my parents or friends as they are. It was weird adjusting to this new power. It also makes me sad to know I can never see colors again, or fly a broom."

"WHAT?! You can't fly a broom?" Ron practically yelled but no one beyond their conversation paid him any attention.

"No. I can't. There are too many variables to account for without my eyesight." Ron felt incredibly guilty for shouting a moment ago, but he was still mad. Now, who was going to be the Gryffindor Seeker? The redhead never noticed the hateful glares coming from both Neville and Hermione.

"Look it's okay. I will always miss flying, but there's a lot more I can do now. The tradeoff is worth it."

"That's a good way to look at it, Harry. I must say I've never seen you this positive before." Hermione stated.

"Thanks, Hermione." He smiled. The four of them continued to eat and talk about anything and everything until Harry brought up a sensitive topic.

"Hey Ron, Hermione, Neville, I need some help."

"Sure mate. What's wrong?" Ron asked.

"While I was gone, I thought a lot about what happened in the Chamber of Secrets." He then directly looked at Ron. "This was our fault, Ron."

"What?! We never opened the chamber! Ginny did!"

"No, Ron! We are just as much to blame!" Harry said as he slammed his fist down. "If we had paid more attention to your sister, this would have never happened! I feel horrible! I could have done so much more, but I didn't! None of us did!"

"Don't blame yourself, Harry. The blame only rests with Ginny and that's all. She could have sought us out any time she wanted, but never did. You did nothing wrong." Hermione stated. Harry was gobsmacked.

"What did you say, Hermione?" He asked with a lot of anger behind it.

"I said it's Ginny's fault for what happened in our second year. If she really wanted help, she could have come to us or a professor!"

"Yeah mate. Ginny opened the chamber all on her own! She knew what she was doing all along! We all know it's true." If Harry could see their faces right now he would punch them. The boy turned to Neville.

"Do you believe she did this on her own too?"

"Yes. I … I think … I think she knowingly opened the chamber and used the snake to attack everyone." Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was about to get up and leave but the headmaster called everyone's attention again.

"Now that we have been properly fed, I want to return to an announcement I made earlier. This year, Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event: The Tri-Wizard Tournament. This contest of bravery and skill has not been held in any school for over a century, and I expect that this tournament will be exciting for all of us. In order to focus our efforts on the tournament, we must inform you all that the Quidditch season for this year has been canceled. We will reinstate the season next year." As soon as he explained this, the entire Great Hall was in an uproar.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore said as he projected with his wand. Everyone decided to shut up.

"I realize that Quidditch is important, so we will allow you to use the pitch whenever you need to. Now I want you to turn your attention to Mr. Bartemus Crouch who will be overseeing the Tri-Wizard Tournament!"

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore. On behalf of the Ministry of Magic, it gives me great pleasure to bring the tournament to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This contest is dangerous and we need to keep inexperienced witches and wizards safe. Therefore, no student under the age of 17 can enter." The students uproared in response again and Dumbledore had to ask everyone to be silent again. Mr. Crouch took his leave.

Dumbledore and McGonagall then pulled out a stand with a blanket draped over the top and brought it over to the middle of the staff table. After removing the blanket which revealed an old cup that started to produce blue fire, the old wizard continued to speak.

"The Goblet of Fire. This cup will determine which students are worthy of becoming a champion. If any of you are of age and wish to enter, simply write your name on a piece of parchment and throw it into the goblet by no later than October 30th. You have plenty of time to decide if you want to enter, but be warned. If chosen, there is no going back. The dangers are extreme and you will be pushed to your limits.

There is one final thing I wish to say before we head to the dormitories. There will be two schools joining us in this tournament: the proud sons of Durmstrang and the lovely ladies of Beauxbatons. We must welcome them with open arms when they arrive on October 1st. Please make sure you are on your best behavior, for you not only represent yourselves but the entire school as well. Now I believe that is enough for one evening. Head on up to your dorms and get a good night's sleep." Dumbledore said as he dismissed everyone.

Harry immediately rose from his seat. His first thought was to find Ginny, but he couldn't find her in the crowds. Since he wasn't successful, the boy went straight to his mother.

"Mum. I need to talk to you."

"What is it, Harry?" Her eyes widened before her son spoke. "You're not going to enter this tournament are you?"

"No, Mum. Trust me I don't want to enter."

"Good. Please don't do anything foolish. I don't need you stirring up trouble after just getting back. Now, what's the matter?"

"Have you seen Ginny Weasley anywhere?" Lily was surprised that he was asking.

"No. Why?"

"I learned from Hermione and Ron that they still believe Ginny was responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets. If they believe it, then it's possible the entire school feels that way too. I need your help to stop these nasty rumors. You know it wasn't her fault! It was Voldemort!"

"I know, Harry. Okay. I promise I will ask the other teachers about this. We will get to the bottom of this soon."

"Thanks, Mum." Lily smiled and pulled her son into a hug. He gratefully returned the hug.

"Head on up to bed, sweetheart. Tomorrow is Sunday so feel free to sleep in." Harry laughed and said he would. The boy was left alone as he headed on up to the Gryffindor Common Room. He didn't know the password, but he was grateful that someone left the door open and he was able to pass on in. Without looking at who was in the common room, Harry headed straight up the stairs and went to his trunk.

The first thing the boy did was enhance his trunk with every locking spell he knew and then disillusioned the trunk so that no one but him could find it. He might have been paranoid, but in case things with Ron, Neville, and Hermione went sour, he needed his things protected. Next, the boy took out the Marauders Map and looked for the redhead girl. Harry saw her located in the girl's dorms so he couldn't get to her tonight even if he tried. Finally, Harry pulled his invisibility cloak from out of his trunk, locked the trunk back up, and headed out of the room.

While he headed down the stairs, Harry slipped on his cloak and made a pass through the portrait. On his way out, Harry could hear a first or second year saying the password: balderdash. The boy thought that was a strange password but then again it was better than dealing with something he'd have a hard time remembering. Harry descended the stairs until he arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. After unlocking the door and slipping inside, the boy made his way to the back room and pounded on the door. It only took a moment for the door to open and for the grizzled ex-Auror to answer.

"Were you followed?"

"I think you know me better than that."

"Just checking, Potter. Get inside." Alastor pointed towards the chair in the corner and Harry sat down. "What's the problem, boy?"

"Did you know about the tournament?"

"No." The man answered without hesitation. "Why?"

"Don't you think it's odd that the moment I return to school, Hogwarts hosts the Tri-Wizard Tournament?"

"The thought crossed my mind. I wouldn't be surprised if your name was entered. I suspect Dumbledore will do his best to get you in."

"Why would he do that?" Harry questioned.

"Haven't you learned anything, boy? What were the rules I made you memorize?" Harry thought about it before answering.

"The Dark Lord is not dead, Don't assume Dumbledore always has your best interests at heart, and always watch your back because no one else will." Alastor nodded.

"Remember the prophecy, Potter?"

Harry nodded. About six months into training, Moody took the teenager into the Department of Mysteries. Dumbledore had revealed that a prophecy about Harry existed but only Lupin, Black, Kingsley, and Moody were ever informed of its existence. Alastor believed it was necessary for Harry to hear what it said regardless of what some meddling old wizards had to say about it.

When Harry was born, there was a prophecy made that described one of two children would become the chosen one when they were marked by Voldemort. This child was the only one who could kill the Dark Lord for neither could live while the other survived. Harry became the chosen one when the Dark Lord stormed Potter Manor and tried to kill the family. He failed when Lily's love protected James, herself and Harry from death and the curse rebounded. When that bastard died, Harry became the only child who had ever survived the killing curse and became a legend overnight. Lily and James may have survived, but the media chose to solely focus on Harry.

Once Harry learned what the prophecy said, he vowed to train even harder to be better than Voldemort. Whenever he did return, the boy had to be ready to take him down. Besides his parents and the select few who already knew of the prophecy, Harry had not revealed its existence to anyone. It was by choice. It was hard enough on his parents already. If Harry decided to reveal this to anyone else, he would be afraid of them becoming distant or, at worst, pity him. Maybe one day he would tell someone else, but that time was not now.

"I remember. It's all I've thought about ever since I found out."

"Good. You need to be focused in order to win. Dumbledore may be a great wizard, Potter, but his ideals are questionable. He's asked me to do some very uncomfortable deeds over the years in order to preserve the greater good. If your name does come out of that goblet, I will prepare you. I don't care what the rules say. Your purpose is to defeat the Dark Lord, and you can't do that if you're dead."

"Yes, Mad-Eye."

"Don't call me that here, Potter. It's Professor Moody, or just Professor." The teenager nodded.

"That's enough discussion for tonight. I'll try to find out what the tasks are in the meantime so we can train you. Go to bed, Potter. You'll need your rest for school on Monday."

"Yes, Professor." Alastor grunted and then almost pushed the boy out the door.

Gathering himself, Harry made his way back to the common room. No one was there when he arrived so the boy made his way up to his dorm. None of his dorm mates were awake, so Harry climbed into bed. A lot of questions ran through his head that night. Was the entire school against Ginny? Would he be chosen as a champion? Was Dumbledore his ally or not? What were the other schools like? Were Ron, Hermione and Neville serious about their accusations? None of these were going to be answered quickly. It bothered him for a few hours until he somehow passed out from exhaustion.

* * *

A/N: Got a comment for me to respond to:

GatorLHA2: haha good I'm glad you're satisfied.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: This story is 100% alternate universe and most, if not all, of the characters in this story are out of character as well. Also I don't own anything by J.K. Rowling and I am not trying to steal her characters, plots, or moments within the books that she has written. This is my own story and I also claim to not copy off of anyone else's work either in the process.

 **Chapter 4**

60 days. That's how many long Harry had been back at school and he had lost his patience. First Ron was being harsh to Ginny by insulting her whenever he could about being a Slytherin spy for opening the Chamber of Secrets. He never did this while his sister was around though. Harry began to distance himself from Ron whenever possible because unlike the blockheaded red-haired boy, Harry knew it wasn't Ginny's fault. Ron was also starting to indicate that he was jealous of Harry because he was famous and his parents were rich. The redhead would make jabs that Harry could afford whatever he wanted or how he was always in the spotlight, but his comments were never malicious. Harry felt a bit insulted by Ron's statements. Harry didn't want his fame, and his parents never flaunted it to the public at all. Not to mention, his family's wealth was none of anyone's business. Yes the Potters were well off, but James Potter worked as an Auror, Lily Potter was a professor, and the pair always donated thousands of galleons every year to a number of charities in the wizarding world.

Hermione wasn't any better on bashing Ginny, but she was nowhere near as bad as Ron. She normally kept her thoughts to herself but started speaking her mind once Ron was around. Maybe she was trying to keep her friendship with Ron by not standing up to him, but Harry felt like she was trying too hard to impress him. He couldn't understand why, but Hermione was sort of an odd child already, so Harry just waved it off as trying to keep friends instead of being isolated.

The bushy haired Gryffindor got more annoying when classes started on September 3rd. The girl quickly discovered that Harry was in tune with his magic and could do almost anything without much effort. His new powers put the Potter boy in the top of his year within the first two weeks. Hermione was furious because all her hard work and study habits weren't enough. She needed to be better than Harry to show that even a muggle-born is worth something, even if it means taking her friend down. What really bothered Harry was when Hermione called him a cheat because his mother was his Ancient Runes professor and always gave him the best grades. Professor Potter reprimanded Hermione when she found out and gave her detention. The professor didn't play favorites at all. If the student's work wasn't great, she would be critical, and that especially included her son. So because Hermione was studying on overdrive to best Harry, her grades started slipping from the amount of stress she was building.

Neville wisely decided not to bother Harry or make unnecessary comments that upset him. The Potter boy appreciated that. Longbottom did, however, inform Potter that he, Hermione, and Ron became the new "golden trio" when Harry had left school. Ron was popular thanks to the adventure of the Sorcerer's Stone, Hermione became popular too and she reveled in the acceptance of her peers, and Neville was just glad to be respected by taking Harry's spot. If Harry was mad before he found out about this bit of information, then it was nothing compared to how he felt right then. So Ron and Hermione were none too happy about his return to school huh? Their popularity was at stake and they didn't want to lose it because Harry was back. It made sense, but Harry was angry.

Another big problem was Ginny. She was impossible to find since he came back. Harry hadn't been able to talk to her once and she was the person he really wanted to talk to. The boy noticed that the Marauder's Map had gone missing from his trunk the first week of school, so if she was the one who took it, then it would be impossible to locate her. Harry suspected Fred and George stole it from him, so they could continue their reign of pranking, and then Ginny stole it from her brothers. Even with his new sight power he still couldn't find the girl. The map made the user hidden from his senses. So even his new powers couldn't be useful. After a month of not being able to find her, Harry had had enough and went straight to Fred and George for help. Harry gave them a note which asked Ginny to meet him in the library the following Monday, but she never showed up. It was becoming difficult for Harry to keep his anger in check when all he wanted to do was talk to her, but she had avoided him like a plague. Was she mad at him? He didn't think so, but anything was possible.

If that wasn't enough, most of the school was now his main source of annoyance. Last night, Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire after Fleur Delacour, Victor Krum, and Cedric Diggory had been chosen as the three champions. To prove his innocence, Harry swore on his magic in front of anyone that he didn't put his name in the goblet and no one else helped him place his name in. After he casted a spell to prove he still had his magic, the people in the room were supposed to believe he didn't enter at all, but nothing helped. Almost everyone gave him a deadly glare which included Ron Weasley and even Hermione Granger. Harry was furious. If his display couldn't prove to everyone that he was innocent, then nothing would. Damn them all.

After hearing the results, the four champions were taken to the back and informed of when the first task was to take place. But of course, the people in the room wanted to know how he got in the tournament, even though he claimed he didn't do it and neither did anyone else. The only ones in that room that believed Harry were the three champions, Dumbledore, and the other professors involved. Madame Maxine and Igor Karkaroff were not convinced, Bartemius Crouch Sr. was indifferent but had his suspicions, and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, wanted to punish the Potter boy, but wisely decided to not say anything in front of Dumbledore, and his mother.

The group of Hogwarts Professors, Crouch Sr., and Harry were escorted to the Headmaster's office following the discussion in the Great Hall. Alastor Moody was furious. He demanded that his pupil be taken out of the tournament but there was nothing anyone could do. Crouch Sr. adamantly stated that by being selected for the tournament, it put every champion into a magically binding contract. If somehow Harry was removed from the tournament using unethical mean, he would lose his magic. Since Dumbledore couldn't let that happen, he assured Alastor that he would try his best to get the boy out without having him to give up his magic. Harry and Alastor were convinced that Dumbledore was incredibly suspicious about his intentions for the tournament, but there wasn't any way to prove he was involved. They both knew that Dumbledore wouldn't be able to find a loophole to get him out, so it was wise to not say anything more.

If Alastor was mad, then Lily was nuclear. After Alastor confronted Dumbledore in his office, Lily unleashed her wrath on the old man.

"HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN DUMBLEDORE? YOU PROMISED HARRY WOULD HAVE A NORMAL YEAR, AND NOW HE'S IN THIS BLOODY TOURNAMENT!"

"Mrs. Potter, I assure you that ..."

"THE ONLY THING I WANT TO HEAR IS THAT HARRY WILL NOT COMPETE IN THE DAMN TOURNAMENT! YOU BETTER GET HIM OUT OF THIS DUMBLEDORE!"

"Enough! I want to make it clear, Mrs. Potter, that Harry has to compete in the tournament. His magic is at stake! The only way to save his magic is to let him compete. There's also no need to call an Auror because there's nothing they can do!" Bartemius Crouch Sr. exclaimed. Lily slapped him in response.

"I will be getting my husband involved, Mr. Crouch. If you value your life, then you better come up with a way to get my son out before the Auror department gets involved." Lily said as coldly as possible. The politician was not able to look the redhead woman in the eye after that.

"I don't think that will be necessary, Mrs. Potter. I will do everything I can to get Harry out of the tournament." Dumbledore said. Lily scoffed at his notion.

"I will get my husband involved, Dumbledore. I will not change my mind. Now if you'll excuse me, I will be taking my son away from this discussion. Alastor, please come as well. We need to talk." Lily stated. She stormed out before anyone could talk some sense into her. Not wanting to make Lily Potter angrier, Alastor Moody quickly left, and Harry Potter took up the rear. Once the trio was out of the room, Crouch Sr. left through the floo network.

"You seemed to have dug yourself a very deep grave, Albus. You know Mrs. Potter will do anything to get her son out. I suggest you do something quickly or else this will get nasty." Professor McGonagall said.

"I am not worried, Minerva. Lily needs to see reason. Once she does, she will need to be there for Harry and let him compete."

"I am not convinced that Lily will budge, Headmaster." Severus Snape said. "When it comes to her family, she won't stop until they're safe. You may not want to admit it, but you know that I'm right."

Albus Dumbledore sat in his desk and contemplated the situation. There was nothing else to do but cooperate. For now. Lily Potter was going to be a problem for him, and if James Potter was to get involved, it would only cause bad press for the school and himself as well. There was not a lot that the headmaster would be able to influence at the present time. However, there could be another way to reach Lily and James.

"You have a point, Severus. It's clear that Lily will not listen to me, and I doubt James would as well. But that doesn't mean someone else could try and let them see things our way." The old man said as he looked over towards the potions master.

"Are you suggesting that we should persuade Lily and James to make Harry compete? Do you realize how insane that is Albus?" McGonagall asked.

"We have no choice! Harry Potter is the chosen one, and he has to be the one to defeat Voldemort! We need him to compete so he will not lose his magic! Unless you have any other ideas on how to get him out without losing his magic, then I am open to suggestions."

McGonagall didn't have any sort of plan that could be used to get Harry out. She may not have liked it, but there may not be another way out. Snape did not want to think of the possibility of Harry losing his magic. The result would devastate Lily and he would never allow that to happen. But Dumbledore does have s point. Should the Dark Lord return, Harry has to defeat him. There was only one thing to do.

"I will talk with her, Headmaster. I think I can make her see things clearly."

"Very well, Severus. Please do so at your earliest convenience. We need Harry to compete so please make sure Lily and James understand the gravity of the situation." Severus nodded and took his leave from the Headmaster's office.

* * *

Harry and Mad-Eye had traversed to Mrs. Potter's quarters before anyone had said a word. The entire journey was tense thanks to Lily's outburst from earlier, and Harry and Alastor being nervous to say anything around her.

"I cannot believe this would happen. I thought Harry would be safe! Why is this happening, Alastor?" Lily asked the man.

"It's your son's destiny to defeat Voldemort, Mrs. Potter. We all know this thanks to that damn prophecy. The Dark Lord will come back soon, and I believe this tournament will bring about his return. That's why your son is in the tournament. It's the only thing that makes any sense to me."

Lily realized that she had no counter-argument against the ex-Auror's claim. It did make sense after all. Why else would Harry be entered, unless it had something to do with that maniac? She may have not wanted to admit it, but there was no other choice. Harry had to compete to keep his magic and defeat Voldemort.

"And what do you think about this, Harry?"

"I'm scared, Mum. Mad ... I mean Moody ... warned me that something like this would happen sooner or later. I don't care what everyone else thinks because we all know the truth. I didn't enter and I would never want to. Voldemort is trying to kill me and this tournament is his best plan so far."

Lily sighed. Her son had confirmed her worst fears, but she already knew the truth even before he said it. Why else would Harry be entered? Her son was the chosen one and the only person who could destroy that monster once and for all. If only Voldemort had truly died that day in 1981, then one of this would have happened. But she couldn't think about that now. Her concern was for her son, and that's all she would have to focus on for the next year.

"When is the first task, Alastor?"

"Harry has only three weeks before the first task, Mrs. Potter. The rules clearly state that neither one of us can help him since we are his professors." The Auror stated, but he wasn't finished yet.

"There is a loophole. You are his mother and I am his trainer. We wouldn't be breaking any rules by helping if we abide by those titles. You could even ask your husband if he's willing." Lily broke out into a smile and hugged the unorthodox man. Then she remembered who she was hugging and backed away quickly. Harry laughed but stopped as soon as the two adults looked at him.

"Yes. Uhm. That was a brilliant idea, Alastor. Can you call James and tell him for me, please? I need to talk to my son in private." The man grunted and walked out of the room. However, the door did not close because Severus Snape had stepped inside.

"Lily, I need to speak to you immediately. The Headmaster has asked me to ..."

"I am NOT changing my mind about this Severus! James WILL be conducting an investigation on this atrocity against my son, and I don't care if Dumbledore is against it!" Lily screeched.

"I am aware, but that's not the reason I came. The Headmaster has asked me to convince you to allow Harry to compete. He feels it is necessary to preserve his magic."

"Tell Dumbledore that Harry can compete. I hate the fact that this situation cannot be avoided, but I have no choice. But there is one thing you can do for me, Severus. I want Dumbledore as far away from my son as possible. It's his fault that Harry is in this predicament in the first place! And once James finds out about how this stunt was pulled off, I will be pressing charges against whoever did this and maybe even the entire school!"

"I assure you, Lily, that I will make sure the Headmaster receives the message. Goodbye." The man began to walk away but he was stopped.

"Wait right there, Snape! We're not done here." Harry gulped and it wasn't directed at him. Each time his mum got that angry, everyone in the blast vicinity had to leave if they valued their lives. Snape was in big trouble and the Potters both knew it.

"What is it, Mrs. Potter?" Snape now reverted to using Harry's mother's official title instead of her biological name.

"You and Harry are going to bury the hatchet right now! I know you and he have had several rows, and I want it to stop." She turned to her son.

"Harry you must respect and listen to your teachers. It doesn't matter who they are, son. Professor Snape is the potions master at the school, and you will listen to his instructions!" Harry nodded but refrained from talking back.

"And you, Severus, will start being nicer to Harry. I don't care what issues you have with my son. The resentment you have for him is unjustified. James is my husband, Severus, and both of us want Harry to be safe. As a close friend, I want the same sort of treatment from you." Lily said but she wasn't finished.

"That's not all, Severus. I have gotten several reports from your students that you do not grade them fairly and often demean them if they are not in your house. Your biased favoritism is unbelievable and unacceptable. Your teaching methods also need to change. Just writing something on the board does not make the children understand the theory behind it. Do you know why there are not many potion makers or healers right now? It's because the professor in potions hinders their students academically so none of them would be able to rise to a NEWT level."

Severus Snape was not able to reply while Lily was speaking. Not that he wanted to anyway. Lily was known to be quite determined and would not stop until she got what she wanted. She would have made a fine Slytherin. It was such a shame that she was sorted into Gryffindor all those years ago, and Severus wished she had been with him from the beginning. There was nothing to do about that now. Lily was right. He was not a good teacher, and he had been treating her son poorly. It wasn't the boy's fault that he looked like the man that Snape hated, and it wasn't his fault that the boy was famous for defeating the Dark Lord by doing nothing.

"I understand, Lily. You have my word that I will change my ways. I will start with you, Mr. Potter." Snape said while changing his attitude at the Potters.

"I apologize for my behavior, Harry, and I would like to start over to have a proper relationship between one another."

The Potions Master came close to the boy and held out his hand.

"Severus Snape. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Harry Potter. The pleasure is mine, Sir." The boy said while shaking his hand back. Neither one noticed that Lily was smiling from the side. Their animosity had gone on long enough and it was heartwarming for Lily to see her oldest friend change his ways. Her son seemed to be welcome to the change as well, and that made her swell with joy.

"I'm glad we could work something out. I must return to the headmaster now. Goodbye, Lily. Goodbye, Harry" The dark-clothed man muttered as he walked away and closed the door behind him.

"Mum?" Harry asked as soon as Snape was gone.

"Yes, Harry?"

"I don't know what to do. I know Voldemort was going to do something, but I didn't realize it would come this quickly. How can I survive this tournament? What should I do?" He asked while trembling. The fear was getting to him. Lily's only response was to hold her son. She didn't have any answers for Harry, but she hoped someone would, and soon.

Harry made his way to Gryffindor tower after his mother sent him back to the dorms. Harry was expecting the entire student body in Gryffindor to be waiting for him inside so they could heckle him and bother him to no end, but he was pleasantly surprised when no one was around. That's when the boy realized that it was well after curfew and he had apparently been gone a while. The Potter kid was grateful that no one was around, and he placed himself in front of the fire. He wasn't tired at all. Harry stayed awake throughout the entire night. He couldn't get a wink of sleep because he was thinking of what the first task would be, and how he was going to survive the tournament. Both were important questions that needed to be answered and had to be solved as soon as possible.

Since Halloween fell on a Friday this year, Harry took the time to head up the stairs in the morning to his dorm room without much worry about waking his roommates. They were going to sleep for a few more hours anyway. When he reached the top, Harry unsurprisingly found his roommates sleeping away, or in Ron's case, snoring loudly like a thunderstorm. There was only one thing Harry was after: his cloak of invisibility. The boy unlocked the many mechanisms of locks on the box and then opened the container.

It was gone.

Harry tried his best to search through the trunk in hopes of misplacing it underneath something but could not find it. He even tried the summoning spell, _Accio_ , to find his cloak, but nothing happened. Someone stole his cloak and he had a pretty good idea who took it. But why? Why would she do this? No. The boy had no proof so he couldn't go around accusing Ginny. Yet. That cloak was a family heirloom and had been passed down from generation to generation. If anyone were to nab the cloak then they would surely use it for personal gain. Not that Harry didn't want it for personal gain either, but that was different. He only wanted it to go into the restricted section of the library undisturbed. How else was he going to survive this bloody tournament he was thrown into? You need to be prepared and have constant vigilance.

Harry closed the trunk and re-locked it, then he carefully went down the stairs and headed straight out of the portrait hole. He needed to get ahold of his father to find the missing cloak so he ran all the way up to the Headmaster's office. For some reason, the statue guarding the office opened automatically for him without a password. He didn't have time to think about this. The boy ran up the stairs and knocked on the door. After being asked to enter, Harry was greeted by Dumbledore.

"Good morning, Harry. What can I do for you?"

"My cloak has been stolen, sir. I need to floo call my father immediately." If Dumbledore was worried, then he didn't show it on his face.

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance, Harry? After all, it did happen within the castle walls, so perhaps the portraits have seen something?"

"Okay. While I call my father, please ask them if they've seen anything."

"Yes of course. The fireplace is just on my right towards the library." Harry nodded and made his way over there. He threw the powder into the fireplace and called out for James Potter.

"Harry? It's too early to be calling me, son. Do you realize what time it is?"

"Dad! I need your help. The cloak is gone. Someone must have taken it last night." James' eyes widened and he started to immediately scramble to gather his things. In just under two minutes, the elder Potter came straight through the network.

"Okay. So the cloak is missing. Did you ask Dumbledore if anything suspicious happened last night?" Harry nodded and the pair went back to the Headmaster.

"Good morning, James. I am sorry to say that the portraits were not able to remember anything odd from last night. There were a lot of people heading in and out of the Gryffindor Common Room, but none of them looked suspicious. I'm sorry, but we do not have any clue as to who took the cloak."

"Not to worry, Albus. I placed a tracking charm on it years ago before I gave it to Harry. Now let's see if we can find it."

The Auror casted the spell and suddenly a stream of blue light traveled out of the office and straight down the staircase. The two Potters and Dumbledore followed the trail around many twists and turns in the castle until the trio arrived in front of a broom closet on the second floor. James Potter opened the door but kept his wand in battle position the entire time. The three men were disappointed to see that there was no one inside and were disappointed when they found the cloak was in shreds.

"Who could have done this, dad?" Harry said while picking up the pieces of the cloak.

"I'm ... I'm not sure, Harry. That cloak cannot be replaced, and now it's gone! What is going on in this school Dumbledore? First, my wife tells me that my son is entered in this damn tournament, and now a dear family heirloom has been destroyed!"

"I assure you, James, that I will get to the bottom of this issue immediately. We will discover who tore up your cloak and who entered Harry in the tournament! I promise."

"That's not good enough, Dumbledore! Someone is behind this in the school, and I am going to get to the bottom of it. I don't care if I have to bring the entire Auror department into this school to find out the answers. Figure out who entered my son, and who destroyed our cloak, or I will be forced to take action."

James was furious but he knew there was nothing he could do at the moment. He only hoped that Albus Dumbledore would have heard his angry response loud and clear. Since the cloak has been found, James had to return home to get ready for work. After bidding the Headmaster and his son goodbye, James vaporized into cinders in the fireplace.

Harry had no ideas on who could have stolen his cloak and could have gotten into his trunk in the first place. Whoever did this must have been a really powerful wizard. It looked more likely that a student couldn't have done this, but Harry was not going to let his guard down.

A week later, Harry discovered that the students were wearing buttons all around the school that said " _Support Cedric Diggory: The Real Hogwarts Champion_ " but they quickly changed to " _Potter Stinks!_ " every minute. What's even worse was that Draco Malfoy bragged that he was the one who made them. That was the last straw. He wasn't going to take any more bullshit at this school. Knowing that he needed to destroy Malfoy, Harry went straight to the faculty in the Great Hall.

"Professors, I demand that these buttons be banned. Malfoy made them and passed them out to everyone in the school!"

"Hmph. It seems that your massive ego is hurt, Potter, and now you can't take it. Why should we ..." Snape started to say but he was quickly jabbed in the side by Lily's elbow for reprimanding her son. This wasn't the only time that Lily had caught Severus being mean to Harry, and she was reaching her limit.

"Shut up, Severus! That's my son you're talking to and I will not let you belittle him while I'm here!" She said with a face of fury that could have killed him. She knew Snape would have to adjust himself to not be mean to Harry, but Lily would not stand for any backlash if she was present.

"I apologize, Mr. Potter. Please continue." After saying this, the rest of the faculty turned their heads to look at the Potions Master and stared as if he had grown a second head. They had no idea what had gotten into him, but they were surprised by his attitude. Harry continued to explain about other details about the buttons that Malfoy had said to him. Once he was done, Harry's head of house responded.

"This is an outrage! Thank you for informing us, Mr. Potter. I will take care of this little issue at once!" McGonagall said. She made her way to the center stage of the Great Hall, casted _Sonorous_ , and began speaking.

"Attention students! Anyone who is wearing these insulting buttons will lose five points for their house. Also, Mr. Malfoy, you will lose five points per button that were given out to the students." Malfoy's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. It looked like the Slytherins would not be winning the House Cup this year. It was very likely that Draco Malfoy was going to have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of the year unless he wanted to be murdered by his housemates in his sleep.

"Anyone who is still wearing their button by dinner will receive detention for a week with Professor Moody!" McGonagall continued to say. Right after she announced this, everyone started to remove their buttons. Harry snickered at the traitors. Especially Ron and Hermione. Serves them right for abandoning him when he needed them most.

The next day in Potions class, Harry was asked to leave from Colin Creevey and had to attend a special meeting with the other champions of the tournament. When he arrived, Harry's wand was inspected by Mr. Ollivander. The wandmaker was happy to see that nothing had happened to the boy's wand. Harry Potter was one of his most interesting customers and he loved the wand that had chosen him. Directly after the wand weighing ceremony, the four champions were approached by a nasty reporter that called herself Rita Skeeter.

"Hello, champions. My name is Rita Skeeter and I work for the Daily Prophet, but I'm sure you knew that already." The four champions all rolled their eyes. All four of them could tell that this self-absorbed woman was going to be a problem.

"Now I want to get your stories out to the public by doing interviews with each one of you. What quirks lie beneath those rosy cheeks? What mysteries do the muscles mask? Where does the courage lie beneath those curls? In short, what makes a champion tick? Me, myself, and my loyal readers want to know about it, so let's get on with it." Rita said while moving around the four champions.

"We will start with the youngest. Come along, Harry." Harry was about to comply when he was stopped by his mother. Her timing couldn't have been more perfect.

"Oh no, you don't, Skeeter. I remember you from an article you wrote a few years ago that embarrassed my husband and the entire Auror department, then you write some insulting articles about myself for being a glory hound wife who was only caught up in my son's fame! Don't even think for a second that you're going to interview Harry. In fact, none of these students are going to be interviewed by you, because your articles print nothing by lies and slanders." Lily said.

The four champions couldn't have thanked Mrs. Potter enough after they left the room. Before Harry carried on his way, the other three champions all stated that they believed he did not enter himself into the tournament. The fourth year was happy that other people had believed him and wished the others good luck in the tournament because they were the real champions. The group of teens were all happy to have gotten along well and vowed to look out for one another during the tournament.

Another two weeks passed by with scrutiny, accusations, and downright rudeness towards Harry, even though the other three champions did their best to stop it. Harry didn't care because at least they weren't wearing any of the buttons. The students in the school were nothing but mindless sheep who went along with the idiotic gossip that spread around. The champions, his parents, and the other professors weren't involved and that's all Harry cared about.

The day before the task came quickly. The last three weeks had been hard for the boy because his parents and mentor were working him into overdrive.

Even though Professor Moody did his best to train his pupil even further, Harry was not concerned it was enough to survive. Alastor's training was unorthodox, just like before, but this time he chose to focus on physical exercise more than anything else. The ex-Auror was also able to confirm what the first task was thanks to Hagrid slipping up: the boy would be facing a dragon and had to retrieve a golden egg that contained a clue for the next task. The news got even better when he learned the dragons were nesting mothers. Was the ministry insane? Someone would die in the first task if they had to face a dragon! Not surprising to anyone, Lily and James were not happy.

Along with Mad-Eye's training, Harry received help from his mother in secret, and his father on the weekends. Lily used her knowledge of Ancient Runes to teach Harry everything she could about creating advanced runes to assist him in the first task, while James focused solely on defensive magic.

The young Potter spent hours coming up with a plan on his own and was confident he would come out okay the following day. His three mentors wanted to help, but he felt he needed to do this by himself. The other three consented but only after much debating with Harry. The fourth year was prepared beyond measure for the following day, and no one was going to stop him. His plan was foolproof.

The hours passed quickly for Harry Potter and soon enough he was placed inside the tent for the champions. Lily and James were waiting to watch their son in the stands, while Alastor was on the sidelines in case the dragon needed to be restrained.

"Ah, Harry Potter! We are so glad you have arrived! Champions come to me! We have things to discuss before the task begins." Mr. Crouch exclaimed. He continued shortly after.

"Now then champions. Your first task is to retrieve a golden egg from one of four very real dragons that are guarding it. This egg is important for it will provide an important clue for the second task of the tournament. In order to decide which dragon is assigned to what champion, and also determine what order you'll all be competing in, we must have you draw a miniature dragon out of this special bag right here." Crouch Sr. stated while holding his purple bag out in front of himself.

"We will begin with Ms. Delacour. Would you please reach inside the bag, my dear?"

The ministry official moved towards Fleur Delacour and allowed her to pick. She then reached in, grabbed a dragon, and then showed it to Crouch Sr. The dragon was green and seemed to be a little friendly. Upon further inspection, Harry could see that there was a tag with the number two around the dragon's neck.

"The Common Welsh Green. Interesting choice, Ms. Delacour. Mr. Krum, you're next!" said Crouch Sr.

After hearing which dragon she ended up picking, Fleur turned to Madame Maxine and the two of them began strategizing in French so that none of the other people in the tent would hear.

Viktor Krum reached in the purple bag after being asked to by Barty Crouch Sr., grabbed a dragon, and then pulled it out. This time the dragon was red and had a bit of a temper about it. A number three was on the tag around its neck. Igor Karkaroff's expression was unreadable by the other contestants in the tent, but inside he was excited because his pupil could easily take on this dragon.

"The Chinese Firebolt. Oh that will be quite a challenge, Mr. Krum! Mr. Diggory, please choose the next dragon!"*

Harry was becoming more and more nervous as the dragons were being selected. He knew there were two options left to pick, and the boy was praying to every magical god, that he did not have to face a fearsome dragon like the Hungarian Horntail. Professor Moody didn't tell Harry which dragons were going to be brought in, so his pick was going to be at complete random which scared him. The boy was not expecting the Welsh Green or the Chinese Firebolt to be brought in, so there was a chance that a Horntail would not be used at all. Then again his luck was not that great.

"The Swedish Short Snout. I wish you luck, Mr. Diggory." said Barty Crouch Sr. This time Harry could see the number one on the tag around the dragon's neck. Cedric took a moment to speak to Headmaster Dumbledore near the side of the tent for advice. He was nervous and needed some words of encouragement.

"It seems I'm going last then." Harry stated as Mr. Crouch came forward with his purple bag.

"Yes indeed, boy. Please reach inside and select the final dragon. I am most anxious to see what the last beast is!"

Harry could feel all the eyes in the room on him. The champions, judges, and Mr. Crouch were all holding their breaths to see what the boy would grab. The feeling of being watched was extremely uncomfortable for Harry. The moment Harry grabbed the dragon, the damn thing bit his fingers. He cringed in a small amount of pain but pulled the rest of the angry beast out.

"The Hungarian Horntail. I wish you luck with that one, Mr. Potter." Barty Crouch Sr. said with a worried look. The dragon had a tag with the number four around its neck. Harry wanted to say something mean to the man in front of him but wisely decided not to. Maybe he would curse the man later when he was alone.

Mr. Crouch left the tent momentarily and Harry was approached by Ludo Bagman.

"Mr. Potter! Can I have a word with you for a moment?" the man asked. Harry nodded and followed the other ministry official to the outside of the tent.

"I wanted to ask if you are ready for facing the Hungarian Horntail? That dragon is extremely deadly you know!" Harry tried his best not to roll his eyes.

"Yes, sir. I am well aware. I have already have a strategy ready for the first task, but I hope I can just get the egg quickly and leave."

"Are you sure, Mr. Potter? I have a couple of pointers should you need them." Even though he was nervous as hell about facing the dragon, Harry felt that taking advice from a ministry official could be considered cheating.

"I'm quite sure, Sir. Thanks for the concern, but I got it under control." said Harry. The boy moved away from the man and headed back towards the other champions.

"Well, I'm scared. I hope the dragon faints before I can do anything just to make it easier on me." Cedric said. The other champions laughed.

"'Ees 'ill not be easy. 'Ee must do 'er 'est. Good luck all ov 'ou." Fleur sincerely stated.

"Ves. Do vell." Krum grunted. He was clearly not a man of many words.

"Good luck all of you. I only hope one of you will become the winner in this task."

"Don't sell yourself short, Harry. You are a powerful wizard and we all believe in you. I'm sure you have a clever trick up your sleeve to deal with the dragon. Am I right?" Cedric asked the boy. Harry nodded. "Then give it your all and don't hold back."

"Thanks Cedric." The champions were interrupted by Dumbledore who asked the Hufflepuff champion to prepare himself. The cannon went off a minute later, and Cedric was guided out to the arena.

From that point forward, Harry became enrapt with nervous feelings. No one could blame him. He was facing a Hungarian Horntail for Godric's sake! Fleur and Viktor tried their best to calm him down, but once it was their turn, all they could say was "good luck" before they left.

All too soon, the other three champions finished the task, and it was Harry's turn to exit the tent. With nothing else to do but proceed, the boy opened the tent flap and walked out to the arena. The boy had no idea how difficult this would be, and it only made the situation worse without the prominent use of his sight.

"Three champions have completed their task and retrieved the egg from the dragon. We must now cheer for our final champion and wish him good luck. From Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I give you Harry Potter!" said Dumbledore.

* * *

A/N: Got more comments to respond to.

anarion87: Hey thanks!

Guest 1: I want to focus on the pair of them, yes. Relationship wise? Most likely. Thanks for the nice comments.

triggbc: Thanks I appreciate it. That's one of the few things I didn't like about the books. Why wouldn't Harry put in more of an effort to try and be there for Ginny? Then, later on, he forgot she had the episode in the Chamber of Secrets at all. That makes no sense. So if I can, I try to pair the two of them together.

Guest 2: Thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: This story is 100% alternate universe and most, if not all, of the characters in this story are out of character as well. Also I don't own anything by J.K. Rowling and I am not trying to steal her characters, plots, or moments within the books that she has written. This is my own story and I also claim to not copy off of anyone else's work either in the process.

 **Note:** If there's dialogue with a $ around it, it means there's a conversation happening in Parseltongue.

 **Chapter 5**

 _"Three champions have completed their task and retrieved the egg from the dragon. We must now cheer for our final champion and wish him good luck. From Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I give you Harry Potter!" said Dumbledore._

The crowd of spectators roared in applause as Harry James Potter, the fourth champion of the Tri-Wizard tournament, and representative of the house of Gryffindor inside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stepped out of the tent and into the arena. Harry subtlety tapped his wand next to his left leg and could finally see the area around him. No one noticed. The boy made a mental note of where everything was.

 _"There are hundreds of people in front of me. Dragon Tamers are on the right and left sides of the arena. The monster is in the middle of the battleground with its eggs off to the side. Thankfully it looks only a little irritated right now, but that'll change soon. The chain holding the dragon in place is weak. There are two links in the chain that are rusted and could break with enough force. If don't hurry, the beast will break free. The ground is solid so I cannot transfigure pieces of it without removing chunks of it from the earth. There also appears to be a small ditch that surrounds the middle of the arena. If the dragon were to breathe fire in the moat of dirt, the flames could travel towards me and cause me to ignite. I think I know how I can use the environment to my advantage if it comes down to it."_ Harry thought.

Harry could tell right away that the dragon tamers were not smart to get the Hungarian Horntail upset, but they would learn their lesson one way or another. Whoever thought to bring in a dragon like that must have been delusional to think it could be handled properly. The boy was still confident his plan would work, but if not, he had other ideas.

 **Plan 1: Summon the Egg**

The magical folk often overlooked the smallest details, and if he could summon the egg with magic, Harry would laugh about it later. Using his wandless magic, Harry reached out and tried to grab the egg with his magic. The object didn't move. Damn. Harry was honestly expecting this idea to work.

"It seems Mr. Potter tried to summon the egg. Tough luck, lad! You'll have to try something else." The announcer said through Sonorous. The audience members laughed. Harry shrugged off the comment that was incredibly obvious at this point and prepared himself for Plan 2.

 **Plan 2: Talk to the Dragon in Parseltongue**

Since dragons were basically large snakes with wings, Harry thought it wouldn't hurt to talk to it before doing anything in combat. Using his abilities as a parselmouth, Harry began to hiss at the large nesting dragon.

 _$Do not be afraid. I am not here to hurt you.$_ Harry said.

$You speak the language of the dragons, young one?$ The beast hissed back.

 _$Yes.$_

$How is this possible?$

 _$A dark wizard cursed me as a toddler. I inherited this power from him.$_

$Why do you approach me?$

 _$You were placed here so I could retrieve something from you. There is a golden egg in your nest that I must acquire. Can I please have the gold egg? I promise not to take anything that is yours.$_

$I see the egg. This is not mine. I only want my eggs. Take your object and leave. I will bring it to you.$

"It seems Harry Potter is communicating with the dragon! This is astounding folks!" The announcer was saying in the background as this was going on. The crowd cheered. Hypocrites. They had no problem ostracizing him two years ago when they thought he was the Heir of Slytherin, but now it's ok because he's a Tri-Wizard Champion.

The dragon raised its massive head and picked up the egg with its teeth. It was about to drop the golden egg right at Harry's feet when suddenly a spell launched directly at the dragon's eyes. The beast whipped its head back around and caused the egg to fly into the air and land on the farther side of the arena. The crowd grew restless and startled by what had taken place. Harry desperately looked around to see who had cast the spell and noticed that a dragon tamer was being reprimanded for thinking the dragon was going to hurt the champion. Harry was beyond enraged.

$YOU TRICKED ME, HUMAN!$ The dragon roared. The beast's cry shook the earth and caused some of the nearby trainers to fall over.

 _$It wasn't me! One of the dragon tamers over there did it! I swear I mean you no harm.$_ Harry said while pointing over to the right.

$LIES! I WILL CRUSH YOU!$

The chains around the dragon's neck began to cringe and creak as it pulled against the support system holding it in place. Harry was worried that the dragon would free itself any moment, and he would have to resort to his third plan of action. The chains snapped and the beast charged at Harry with blinding fast speed. There was no choice anymore. The dragon wouldn't listen to reason, and the boy wasn't going to change its mind.

 **Plan 3: Cloak and Dagger**

The Horntail lunged itself at Harry while the boy dove out of the way. The massive jaw that tried to chomp away at the champion bit into the ground, pulled out a large chunk of rock and smashed it with the razor sharp teeth it had.

"Oh no! It seems the Horntail has broken free! What will Harry Potter do now?" The announcer said. Most of the crowd was gasping in fear from what was happening, and that especially included James and Lily Potter. Harry wished the announcer would shut up since it was distracting. How was the champion supposed to concentrate when he had an annoying voice in the background commenting on his blunders?

Harry was able to pick himself up quickly from the miss of the beast's jaw. He pulled out his wand and held it firmly in his hand. The boy was skilled in wandless magic, but he needed a boost that could only be acquired with the assistance of his trusty weapon. Harry tapped his wand against his wrist and began to disillusion himself. Once Harry was gone from sight, the announcer spoke again.

"Harry Potter has vanished from sight! Will he be able to sneak past the dragon?" The crowd gasped. Harry was seriously considering a _Silencio_ spell right about now. Not just for the announcer, but for the crowd as well. Idiots. It was if they had never seen a disappearing spell before.

Harry began moving around the back of the dragon while the beast moved its head from left to right. The monster was confused and began spewing fire from its mouth. Nowhere in sight was safe. The walls of the stadium were ablaze with fire, and the beast moved closer to the end of the arena. Suddenly the Hungarian Horntail spotted the golden egg being lifted from the pile. So the egg could be levitated, but it couldn't be summoned? Harry did not understand how that was possible at all.

$DIE HUMAN!$

The dragon stormed to the floating egg and swiped around it to catch the contestant. The beast was only swiping at the air. Where was the traitorous boy? The egg then rocketed over to the far right of the stadium where Harry reappeared. After catching the egg, the boy ran as fast as his legs carried him and entered the tent just as the Horntail erupted one last breath of fire at the champion. The tent caught fire but the flames were extinguished quickly.

$THIS ISN'T OVER, HUMAN!$ The dragon roared before it was hauled away by the tamers.

"HARRY POTTER HAS DONE IT! THE BOY HAS ESCAPED WITH THE EGG! CONGRATULATIONS MR. POTTER! YOU'VE CERTAINLY EARNED IT!" The announcer stated. The crowd screamed in applause even before the final announcement was exclaimed. The entire arena was restless and wanted to know the scores of the final contestant.

Inside the tent, Harry made his way to the back and was approached by Madam Pomfrey. Harry wasn't hurt at all so the medical matron moved on from him and went back to Cedric Diggory who had a few burns on his left-hand side. Harry was about to head over to Cedric, but he was grabbed from behind by his parents.

"Harry James Potter I'm so glad you're okay!" Lily Potter exclaimed as she held on to her son for dear life. Tears of fear were misting in her eyes. She didn't bother wiping them away.

"I'm ok, Mum. I didn't get hurt at all see?" Harry said as he let them both examine him.

"Great job, son." James said while patting his son on the back. "I'm very proud of you, Harry. You did great! Much better than the other contestants anyway."

Lily glared at her husband. Who cares how well he did? The only thing that mattered was Harry was okay and unharmed. Everything else was irrelevant. Lily was about to rip into her husband before their son spoke.

"Thanks, Dad." Harry said while laughing. Lily calmed down after that. James was entirely grateful his son rescued him from the yelling of a lifetime.

"I only wish Remus and Sirius could be here."

Lily and James agreed with their son on that matter. Sirius and Remus were still on the hunt for Peter Pettigrew and therefore impossible to contact. The pair had been gone for over two years and still hadn't found anything. The two of them usually sent the Potters some news from time to time, put it had been over a month since the last time any Potter had received a letter.

"I know, Harry. I'm sure they'd be proud of you too." Lily assured him. "Come on. Let's see what the judges think."

Harry nodded and the trio made their way over to the entrance of the tent. The group could see all of the judges and were finally given the scores. Madame Maxine was first. Her wand raised into the air and a silvery ribbon shot out. The ribbon transformed into a number 8. The crowd agreed with this decision and clapped.

"Not bad. Should have been higher, but not bad." Mr. Potter said as he clapped. Harry only nodded. Next was Barty Crouch Sr.

"That man better give you a 10, Harry. He's already on thin ice with me." Lily angrily said. Harry nodded again but stepped a little away from his Mum. In the corner of his eye, Mr. Crouch noticed the look of hatred on Mrs. Potter's face. He was originally going to give the boy a 9 but changed his mind immediately to a 10. Once again the crowd cheered in applause.

"Good." She said. Lily didn't clap but the other two Potters did.

Dumbledore was after Crouch. The old man had thought hard about Harry's performance. He wanted to give the boy a 10 but did not want to play favorites. He didn't do it with Diggory, and he wouldn't do it with Potter. The Headmaster raised his wand and gave the same score as the other Hogwarts champion: 9. The crowd cheered.

"I knew he wouldn't give you a 10. He can't appear to favor the Hogwarts students over the other contestants."

"It should have been a 10 too. It's Dumbledore's fault my son is in the tournament in the first place!"

"You know he can't, Lily. I'm sure he wanted to, but he's got an image to keep." Mrs. Potter only grumbled.

"It's not a big deal, Mum. I'm just glad it's over. I don't care what score I get." Harry said. Lily grew a large smile. She was proud of her son for saying that. He really was a good boy.

The Potters were distracted by their conversation so much that they almost missed Ludo Bagman's score. He awarded Harry a 10.

"Wow really? I was not expecting that."

"Don't sell yourself short, Harry. You did a fantastic job out there." Harry smiled.

Finally, the judge known as Igor Karkaroff raised his wand into the air. Everyone present was expecting at least a 7 from the man, but they were all surprised when a different number came out.

"3? He gave me a 3? What is he playing at?" The crowd booed the man loudly but Igor didn't care. Yes, he was playing favorites with Krum, but he had to give Harry something. If he had been given the opportunity, the Durmstrang man would have given every contestant except Krum a 0, but the rules forbid it if the champion did something in the task.

"Biased prick." James said.

"I agree. He is a biased prick." James laughed at his wife when she agreed with him. Lily tried to sneer at her husband but broke out into a small laugh instead. Harry was surprised his Mum agreed. Normally she would scold either him or his father if either one of them cursed.

"What happened?" Cedric Diggory asked as he approached the Potters.

"Woah, Cedric, are you alright? You have some burns!"

"Oh, this? I'm fine, Mrs. Potter. This doesn't feel as bad as it looks." The boy said as he indicated the moderate level burns on his arm. "Now what's going on with you three?"

"Karkaroff gave Harry a 3. We all think he's a biased prick for doing so."

"He gave you a 3? Wow. I feel lucky. He only gave me a 4." The Potters laughed.

"'E iz nut un prick!" Viktor exclaimed as he came near. He was not happy at all to hear such a thing about his headmaster. The group of four were a little thrown off by the boy's tone.

"Karkaroff iz great man. 'E desurves respekt!" The Durmstrang student stated before he walked away angrily. The Potter boy felt a little bad for saying something that offended the Quidditch star. Fleur Delacour came out of the medical area and joined the other four.

"Don' worree, 'Arry. Viktor iz not most understanding." Fleur said. She then walked over to him and gave the boy a hug along with a kiss on each cheek.

"I 'new you 'ould do great!" Harry blushed a little. Lily and James noticed but decided not to tease him. There would be plenty of time for that later.

"Thanks, Fleur. You did great too." Harry said

"Hey, champions! They're about to announce your scores!" James said. The group made their way to the entrance of the tent to hear.

"Congratulations champions and well done on participating in the First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament! Now that the scores have been tallied, we will reveal the standings of all the champions." Dumbledore loudly stated with the _Sonorous_ spell.

"In fourth place, we have Miss Fleur Delacour with 33 points." Fleur looked a little disappointed. Madame Maxine came over and whispered some encouraging words into her ear so she would not be upset.

"In third place, we have Mr. Cedric Diggory with 36 points." Cedric was fine with his placement. He knew all that mattered, in the end, was the cup, so the standings were not that important right now. Since Amos Diggory was unavailable to celebrate this moment with his son, James Potter came by and patted Cedric on the back.

"Great job, Cedric. I'll tell your father how you did the next time I see him." Cedric smiled.

"Thanks, Mr. Potter."

"Now for the final place, we have a tie. Both Mr. Viktor Krum and Mr. Harry Potter have received 40 points and are currently sitting in first place!"

Viktor was given a bear grip like hug from Karkaroff off to the far end of the arena, while Harry was given praise by his parents, and the other two champions inside the tent. The boy may have not cared that much about how he did, but he was thankful that there were other people around that supported him.

The crowd was mixed with the point standings. Each school wanted their champion to be successful but there was nothing they could do about it. Each contestant did the best they could under the circumstances, and with luck, the next task would shake things up in the point standings. The audience was extremely mixed on how to root for Cedric or Harry, however. There were still some who believed Harry cheated his way in, while others, like a lot of students in the Slytherin house, didn't care and made comments about his impending doom.

"The next task of the tournament will take place on February the 24th. Champions, you must decipher the clue in the golden egg if you wish to be successful in the coming months! Now everyone please disperse from the arena so the tamers can escort the dragons away." Dumbledore continued.

Lily, James, and Harry made their way from the tent along with the rest of the champions. Fleur and Cedric went their separate ways, while the Potters headed over to the entrance of Hogwarts.

"Well, I'm sure you're excited to celebrate with your friends tonight, Harry. You don't need a pair of old geezers like us around, right?" James teased.

"Knock it off, James." Lily turned to her son. "Go ahead and enjoy the rest of the night, Harry. Your father and I have things to do. We will see you later."

Harry nodded and said goodbye to his parents. As they apparated away, the boy considered himself extremely lucky that his mother and father survived the assassination attempt from Voldemort. If his mother's love didn't protect them all, Harry would have ended up an orphan, or worse, dead. There were times when Harry wondered what his life would have been if his parents had perished. None of his thoughts were good. Besides being dead, there was a possibility Harry could have been left at his mother's sister's house. That would have been a nightmare. The Dursley family hated magic and let everyone know it. The only time Harry had met them resulted in all three Dursleys getting hexed by his mother. Petunia had called his mother a slag, and Vernon tried to hit Harry across the face, but James put them all in a binding curse and erased their memories.

Sometimes Harry became overwhelmed with worry when he thought about Voldemort returning, and possibly finishing the job all those years ago. Would his parents survive? Would he? It was too scary to consider. The wizarding world was changing quickly thanks to Harry's involvement with Voldemort in his first two years of school. The monster tried to resurrect himself with the Sorcerer's Stone and tried again by possessing Ginny Weasley with a sinister black diary that spewed it's black venom blood when it died. If Harry had been there a moment too late, then Ginny would have died too.

Ginny. The girl was a complete mystery to the young raven-haired Potter. It was almost three months since school had started and he still hadn't seen her. Why was she avoiding him? Did she even attend school at all considering he had never seen hide nor hair of her? Harry even resorted to asking his Mum for help in getting Ginny to talk to him, but it never worked out. Ginny was not enrolled in Ancient Runes so Lily could not approach her in class. The few times Lily thought she had seen the girl turned out to be wrong. It was always someone else, or someone just like Ginny, but never the real thing. There was once where Lily saw someone but she disappeared from sight in a blur. It always caused her to wonder what trick that was.

Turning his thoughts away from Ginny, Harry tried to focus on getting the day over with. The boy was tired and wanted nothing more than to throw his egg into his trunk, and go to bed, but he knew the other Gryffindors would want him to stay up and party with him. Fools. Nearly all of the cowards in the tower had called him a cheat or liar in the last month, so why in the world would he want to associate himself with his fellow students? The answer is simple: he was lonely. Being outcasted for a month left Harry friendless. While he never showed it, the boy wanted to be accepted by the other kids in Hogwarts. It was like his second year all over again, and he desperately did not want that feeling to return. The only way to avoid that feeling was to talk to the backstabbers and traitors in the castle. It sickened Harry, but he didn't have a choice. It was either be lonely and miserable or talk to the people who abandoned them when he needed help the most.

Harry began to walk up the steps of the doors to Hogwarts when a voice called out to him from behind.

"Harry! Harry wait up!"

"What is it, Charlie?" Harry was a little surprised that the Weasley boy was here at all.

"Harry I am so sorry! The dragon was not supposed to get free or get violent. The person responsible for causing pain to the Hungarian Horntail has been fired, but we wanted to ask if you would like to press charges on him?" Harry again became surprised.

"No that's okay. I was mad at the time, but I realized that I would have done the same in his position. The man was only trying to protect me, and I have no intention of pressing charges. Is there any way you can hire him back?"

"I don't know, Harry. I will put in a word with my boss, but I'm glad you're so understanding about this." Harry nodded.

"Well anyway, I'm going to go back now. Sorry again, Harry." The boy started to leave when the Potter kid stopped him.

"Charlie, hold on. Have you … I mean … has …" He sighed. "Nevermind. It's nothing. Don't ask."

Charlie gave him a raised eyebrow but didn't say anything as he went back down to the arena. Harry got out of the cold winter night and moved his way up the stairs of the castle. He was dreading the encounter with the other students inside.

As the Potter child took his leave, a small figure moved out from the shadows and watched the boy. She had been following Harry a lot today. She wanted to talk to him so badly before the first task, even though a good part of her didn't out of fear, but never got the chance because he was never alone. There was no way the redhead girl would want to face her savior with others around. It was going to be hard enough already and she didn't need the extra pressure looming over. The Weasley girl had been scared enough as it was.

Ever since Harry had come back, Ginny avoided him. She was afraid of him and what he would possibly do. Ginny Weasley owed Harry Potter a life debt and he could force her to do anything, but only once. Even though it would only be once, she never wanted him to collect his payment. Ever. She had been possessed by a madman for a year, so she did not need another threat hanging over her again. The thought of Harry becoming a danger to her took over her life. She was scared and desperate to get away from him.

The girl was careful to sneak around him the first week of school, but she had a few close calls. One night when Harry was asleep, Ginny went up the stairs to the boy's dormitory. Her plan was to talk to him, but the girl's cowardice took over in the end. The girl noticed that Harry's trunk was slightly left open so she dug inside and found the Marauder's Map. With that valuable tool in her possession, Ginny had a very easy time getting away from the Potter boy. The best part was that his powers would not discover her because the map hid the user from any tracking spells or enchantments.

One day sometime later, Ginny noticed on the Marauder's Map that Neville Longbottom was pacing back and forth in the fourth year dormitory. She decided to follow him and see what the boy was up to. As Ginny headed down the stairs, Longbottom was joined by her brother Ron, and his other friend Hermione Granger. Neville had Harry's cloak of invisibility in his hand and the group seemed to want it for some reason. As the trio left, Ginny followed close behind.

As the three Gryffindors made their way down the stairs, the trio was intercepted by Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. The Slytherins fought the Gryffindors in a magical duel and won. The snakes then took the invisibility cloak as their prize and ran off with it. Since the idiots in Slytherin had no idea what it was, Crabbe and Goyle tore the fabric up and threw it into a nearby broom closet. It didn't matter if they had no idea what this item was, they just didn't want those three to have it. Ginny was shocked to see what happened to Harry's cloak, but there was nothing she could do as the damage was already done.

Earlier this morning, Ginny noticed Harry from afar as he ate breakfast. When the boy was called down to the tent for the beginning of the task, her throat closed up and it became very difficult to breathe. Harry may not make it out alive, and she would never get to see him again. Ginny followed him from a distance down the steps of the castle and hid behind a tree that overlooked the arena. It was then that she realized that her fears were misplaced. The best thing to do was to talk to Harry when the task was over. If he survived that is.

Harry was amazing in the task. The first two plans were going swimmingly until the dragon's head came very close to the boy. Unfortunately for Potter, the Weasley girl mistook this for a grave danger that was about to happen to her savior. Ginny grabbed her wand, aimed at the dragon, and shot a spell in the direction of its head. The spell hit directly in the eye of the dragon, but that only made the situation worse. Ginny was hoping the stun spell would cause a momentary distraction so Harry could get away, but all it did was make the dragon angry and Harry foolishly tried to fix the situation. She felt incredibly stupid after what she had done. Then it got worse when one of the dragon tamers was blamed for Ginny's mistake She never revealed to Charlie that it was her.

The task ended and Ginny sighed in relief that her savior survived the task. She had a pretty good feeling that he would live, but the Weasley girl never imagined that Harry would escape unharmed. The girl continued to watch as Harry walked on with his parents and other champions. The Potters started to head in her direction so she clung to the tree she was behind with dear life. The family seemed to have not noticed her so she waited a few minutes before heading up the castle as well. When Mr. and Mrs. Potter apparated away, Charlie appeared. Her chance to talk to Harry was lost again. The discussion of the dragon tamer from Charlie made her feel extremely guilty again, but she stayed focused. Harry was her only concern and nothing else.

As Harry made his way up the steps, Ginny saw him ascend the stairs with reluctance. She knew that Harry did not want to join the other Gryffindors in the common room, but he had to because curfew was starting. Harry was far enough away for Ginny to follow him, so the girl left her spot. The youngest Weasley kept Harry in sight the entire time as he took every step up the stairs, but still kept far away. Ginny fought with herself the entire time on whether or not she should approach him tonight, but in the end, it didn't matter. What would she say anyway?

" _Sorry I deserted you for three months. How are you doing?"_

No. No that wouldn't work at all. Ginny, unfortunately, made a realization that she had done this to herself. Harry had every right to hate her. It would only be worse when he discovered she was the one behind the attack on the dragon. The small girl had put her savior in danger once again and she hated herself for it. There was only one thing to do now: hide. Hide like the coward she knew she was.

Harry was about to turn the corner to head up to the next set of stairs when he felt like he was being followed. The boy turned around and didn't see anyone. The only thing in his view was the endless amount of paintings on the wall and the numerous staircases that changed on a whim. Harry sighed. He really felt like someone had been following him. More like he wished one specific person was. With a shake of his head, Harry continued his trek.

The small girl had thrown herself into an unused classroom at the last moment. She knew Harry would turn around eventually so it would be best to flee. After peeking around the corner, Ginny could see Harry sighing at the stairs where he stopped, but he continued shortly after. The girl went back inside the classroom and closed the door. After using her wand to lock it, the redhead sank to the floor and cried. She cried for avoiding him, for almost killing him today, and for making him hurt. She knew he wanted to talk to her, but the Weasley girl didn't want someone who had a small amount of control over her to be near. It was the only way for her to survive. Avoiding Harry was going to be hard, but it was for the best.

* * *

More comments to respond to:

triggbc: Thanks! Well, it looks like I answered some of your questions, but the others will come later.

taniatrevisi1: I actually had no idea what you wrote at first, but once I translated it, it made sense. First of all, I think you're the only one ever to write something in another language on any of my stories so that's cool. Also thanks for the nice comment! Don't worry I won't stall forever, I just have things I need to get through in the story first.

mithrilandtj: Well you are right but why would she help him? She is/was enjoying being popular since Harry was not at school, and then she, Ron, and Neville abandoned him when they revealed their thoughts about Ginny and when he was entered into the tournament.

anarion87: Thanks I appreciate it!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: This story is 100% alternate universe and most, if not all, of the characters in this story are out of character as well. Also I don't own anything by J.K. Rowling and I am not trying to steal her characters, plots, or moments within the books that she has written. This is my own story and I also claim to not copy off of anyone else's work either in the process.

 **Chapter 6**

The party in Gryffindor Tower was, for a better word, obnoxious. The second Harry opened the portrait hole, the loud shouting, laughing, and talking rang in his ears and caused him some minor pain. Since his ears were more sensitive than the usual person, he had a little difficulty focusing. The best he could do was use his transfigured staff and muffle some of the sounds. He could still hear conversations he was involved with, but everything around him was quieter.

Thank Godric for magic.

The Boy-Who-Lived walked into the main area of the common room and was applauded by everyone inside. Even though Harry could technically see the people in the room, he was glad he didn't have to experience the full sight in front of him. Bastards. One minute he's a liar and the next he's a hero again.

 _"No, Harry, you have to try and forgive. They may be two-faced, but it's better to have friends than be alone. It's what Mum and Dad would want for me, so I'll do it for them if anything."_ He thought to himself.

"Let's hear it for Harry! Three cheers for the first place champion! Hip-hip!" Someone in the back of the crowd announced. Harry really didn't want this.

"HOORAY!" The entire group shouted.

"Guys you really don't have to ..."

"Hip-hip!" A different person exclaimed.

"HOORAY!"

"Ok, that's ..."

"Hip-hip!" The first person shouted.

"HOORAY!"

"Okay okay. Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I really appreciate the support, but I want everyone to listen to me. Cedric Diggory is the real Hogwarts champion. Please encourage him as much as you can because he's going to need it. Thanks for cheering though."

The Gryffindor students all clapped and hooted in the room. Harry had no idea whether anyone listened or not, but he was glad he got his thoughts out.

"Open the egg, Harry!"

"Yeah what's the clue?"

The lot decided it would be a great idea to start chanting "open it!" over and over again. Harry decided to give in, but he wanted to make them beg a little first.

"You want me to open it?" Harry asked everyone.

"YES!"

"You sure you want me to open it?"

"YES!"

"Quit stalling, Harry!" Seamus Finnigan said from across the room. Most of the Gryffindors laughed.

Harry reached out with his hand and grasped the top of the egg. The object had a faucet like a handle at the top that could only be opened by twisting the valve. The boy twisted the valve to the right and the egg's sides fell revealing a frightening ball of red plasma energy inside. The energy was frightening to look at because it seemed like a bomb was about to go off, but that didn't happen. Instead of exploding, the egg's true purpose was to shriek as loud as possible so that everyone's ears would deafen.

When the egg started shrieking, the sound caused so much pain in the kids around the room, but Harry took the worst of it by far. Since Harry's senses were more powerful than ever, the intense pulse of sound was too much for his ears to handle. Even though he just made it so his ears would hear less, the sound heard was cranked up from a 4 to 20 for him. The boy dropped the egg and tried so hard to get away, but it wasn't enough. Harry was crawling away in agony with blood escaping his ears and nose. Then in a stroke of luck, someone had gotten ahold of the egg and had shut it tight.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron Weasley asked as he made his way down the stairs and closed the egg.

"We don't know! Harry opened the egg and the damn thing started screaming! It sounded like a banshee but a million times worse!" Seamus explained.

"Of course Harry is behind this! Where is he?"

"Ron, what's going on? I heard a loud noise." Hermione asked as she came down from the girl's dormitory and joined her friend. She couldn't imagine what the noise was, so she went down to investigate.

"Harry opened his egg and hurt everyone in the room! It's just like him to hurt everyone, Hermione! I'm going to find him, and when I do, well, he just better watch out." Ron said while trying to sound as tough as possible. It didn't work.

"Calm down, Ron. I don't think Harry would intentionally do this to everyone. He may have cheated to get into the tournament, but he wouldn't hurt everyone in the common room on purpose."

"You're going soft on him, Hermione! He did this on purpose just like he cheated his way in on purpose!"

"Hey!" Colin Creevey shouted from the back. All eyes were on him now.

"Harry opened the egg because we asked him to. He had no idea what was inside it and neither did we. The egg hurt all of our ears but we're ok! So get off his back, Ron!"

The other students in the common room seemed to have agreed with Colin because they all clapped in response to his bravery. After being slightly embarrassed for speaking out, the boy spoke again.

"And another thing! Harry didn't cheat to get in remember? He swore on his magic that night when he said he didn't enter and he didn't get anyone else to enter him either. I knew from the beginning that Harry was innocent, and I'm shocked that both of you thought differently!"

"Oh piss off, Colin. Harry has a lot of power now thanks to the special training from Professor Moody, so he could probably figure out a way to trick people into believing him!"

"Shut up, Ron! We were wrong to believe Harry did this, but the fact is that he didn't enter the tournament! It doesn't matter how powerful he is. The goblet is an extremely powerful ancient magical item that cannot be tampered with unless it is done by someone who has tried to modify it for months at a time!" Colin continued to say.

"Oh yeah? Well ... he's ... he's just a glory hog! He's always gotten attention and fame for just being the Boy-Who-Lived! He's nothing special!"

"Are you that far up your own ass, little brother?" Fred asked.

"I think he is, Fred. His brain can't comprehend the simple truth, which makes him a Mor!" Everyone thought George had lost his mind right after he said that.

"A Mor, George?"

"Yeah, a Mor-Ron!"

The entire common room laughed at the expense of Ronald Billius Weasley, who was turning at least 20 shades of red. The youngest male Weasley was angry and humiliated so he ran all the way back up the stairs. Hermione was not looking forward to being yelled at either, so she retreated up to the girl's dorms.

"You think they learned their lesson, George?"

"What do you think, Fred?"

"Maybe?"

"Probably?"

"No!" The brothers said together. They very much enjoyed their moments of being twins. The two enjoyed a short chuckle before being distracted by another voice.

"Hey, where is Harry?" Katie Bell asked from inside the crowd. Everyone just now realized he was gone. There were a lot of murmurs, but no answers.

"I don't know. Ever since the egg opened, I forgot he wasn't here. We need to find him!" Dean Thomas exclaimed.

The Gryffindors started to frantically look around for Harry, but it didn't take long. Someone found him and screamed. Harry was lying face down near the common room door with blood pouring down his ears and a little from his nose that was seeping its way into his mouth. There were a lot of concerned kids in the room and each one was extremely worried.

"Someone go get help!" Someone said in the massive crowd.

Some of the Gryffindors left and ran all the way to their head of house.

"Okay one of us needs to get his egg up to his room, while a few of us try to get him up." Colin Creevey continued. Colin ended up selecting his own brother to place the egg on Harry Potter's bed.

A few people tried to lift Harry up, but he was covered in a lot of blood so it made him a little slippery. As the kids did their best to drag him over to the door, Professor McGonagall appeared.

"Let go of Mr. Potter, please. I will take him to the Hospital Wing." The teacher said as she used _Wingardium Leviosa_ as well as a minor _Episky_ spell on Harry's ears.

Professor McGonagall levitated her fellow Gryffindor down the long set of steps of the stairs. The journey was quite long since Gryffindor Tower was on the top floor of the castle, and the Hospital Wing was on the bottom floor. When the woman finally arrived, Harry Potter was directed straight towards a med-bed and carefully placed on top. Madame Pomfrey began a medical analysis of her patient with several spells that Minerva had never heard of before.

"So what is it, Poppy? Is it serious?"

"No, Minerva, thankfully it is normal. I should have figured this would have happened to Mr. Potter at some point." Madam Pomfrey said as she pulled a healing potion from the back.

"What do you mean?"

"Has Dumbledore informed you of Harry's situation? Do you know what he's currently dealing with?"

"Dumbledore informed me enough. Mr. Potter's senses are heightened correct?" The matron nodded as she poured a liquid down Harry's mouth.

"It seems like the sound from the egg was too intense for the boy, and hurt his hearing." McGonagall theorized. "Will he be able to hear again?"

"Yes, that is no problem. His hearing will be sensitive for the next few hours until the healing potion I gave him fixes his wounds completely. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to notify his parents."

"Of course. Thank you, Poppy." McGonagall said before she left.

It only took five minutes for Mr. and Mrs. Potter to arrive back at Hogwarts. Both parents were worried, but Lily, of course, was a little frantic.

"Poppy, what happened? We just saw him an hour ago and he was fine! Now he's in the hospital wing!" Lily exclaimed.

"Don't worry Lils I'm sure it's nothing serious. Right Poppy?" She nodded.

"Your son is fine Mr. and Mrs. Potter. The egg caused Harry to experience tremendous pain when it was opened. The sound was loud enough to burst his eardrums and cause him to bleed out his ears." Lily was about to start erupting with worry but Madam Pomfrey stopped her.

"Just hold on, Mrs. Potter, I'm not done yet. The potion I gave him is fixing the problem now. It takes only 10 minutes for his eardrums to grow back, and his ears will be really sensitive for the next few hours. We just need to make sure he doesn't wake up. He will be completely fine when he wakes up tomorrow morning." Lily sighed in relief.

"See? I told you Poppy has everything in hand. You worry too much, Lils." James said.

"Shut it, James!" She said as she slapped her husband on the back of the head. He muttered that he was hurt under his breath.

The doors to the Hospital Wing were opened abruptly and in came Professor Moody, Professor Snape, and Headmaster Dumbledore. Everyone could guess why Alastor and Dumbledore would come in to check on Harry, but Snape coming was a little out of character.

"What are you doing here, Albus? I thought I made it clear that you are not to interact with my son!"

"I understand, Lily, but I ..." Dumbledore tried to say but Mrs. Potter wasn't having any of it.

"Ever since we've come back to Hogwarts it's been a nightmare! My son was entered into the tournament without any consent, James' cloak was torn to pieces, almost all the students have ostracized Harry since Halloween, a dragon almost killed him earlier today, and now his eardrums have burst because of a clue for the second task!"

"Lily it's not that bad. We ..."

"NO JAMES! IT IS THAT BAD! IF HARRY WASN'T IN THIS TOURNAMENT, I WOULD HAVE WITHDRAWN HIM ALREADY!" Everyone in the area was a little shaken up from Mrs. Potter's outburst. No one could blame her, however.

"Mrs. Potter, I understand you're angry, but I assure you we will get to the bottom of everything." Dumbledore said as he tried to calm the distressed Ancient Runes professor.

"Oh? And how are you going to do that? You still don't know who entered my son's name into the tournament do you?"

"I have news on that." Alastor Moody growled. Nearly all eyes were on him now.

"After checking the goblet, I could determine that it was tampered by someone who had modified it over several months. It was not a coincidence that Potter was entered in the tournament. I said from the beginning that Potter would be chosen because of the Dark Lord. This is something that right bastard would do. I suggest we expand the search to focus on those who were exonerated from being a follower of the Dark Lord because of the imperious curse."

"Why Alastor? Those people were cleared of all charges. If we were to look into their cases again it would cause major problems for the ministry." James asked.

"Has your logic really escaped you, Potter? It should be obvious, even to you." Snape sneered. He was about to lay into James but he remembered his promise to Lily again and decided to cool it down.

"Why don't you enlighten me, Snivellus?" James shot back. Lily elbowed him in the ribs.

"The Dark Lord had a vast empire of supporters before your son destroyed him. When that happened, what do you think the Death Eaters did to save their skins? I'll tell you what they did, Potter, lie, escape, silence their enemies, and even kill themselves. Those who had the guts to undergo an imperious curse test either lied or bribed their way out of time in Azkaban." Snape said as he sighed.

"The point is these people who got off may not be as innocent as you think, James." Moody interjected.

"I think it's the best lead we have." Dumbledore said. "Alastor, please search the ministry for anyone who fits Severus' description. Severus, I want you to recall anyone who has worked with Voldemort in the past. It doesn't matter how important they were in his ranks. Everyone could be a suspect. James, I want you and your Aurors to take the goblet of fire to the ministry. See if anyone in the misuse of magical items department could assist in finding out who was involved with the tampering of the goblet."

All three of the men nodded and went their separate ways. Dumbledore took his leave as he had other pressing matters to attend to with the tournament. Madam Pomfrey fed Harry one last potion before heading to the far end to check on the other patients. That left Lily alone with her son. As she watched Harry sleep, she could only imagine the amount of stress he was dealing with. What with classes, and the tournament, Harry was quite busy. She hadn't spent as much time with her boy recently as she'd liked because she was busy with her teaching schedule too. Mid-year exams were coming up and the woman was getting a little knackered. Who knew Hogwarts curriculum would be this difficult?

Lily took this time to be with her son even if he couldn't respond back. She had some things to get off her chest, so talking about it seemed like the best thing to do. Lily remained quiet so Harry's ears wouldn't strain.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I know this year has been difficult for you. If I had known how this year was going to turn out, I would have kept you at home. My god, what is going on with this school?"

Lily sighed. What had become of Hogwarts? It was never like this while she was in school. Ever since Harry attended Hogwarts in 1991, the school seemed to become a hazardous environment for everyone. But that wasn't the worst part. The kids' educations were being squandered, and it was mainly due to Potions, Divination, History of Magic, and most importantly Defense against the Dark Arts. All four of those subjects had professors who clearly couldn't teach to save anyone's life, but the worst was DADA.

Lily did not understand how DADA became so cursed. First Dumbledore hires a Death Eater with the soul of Voldemort on the back of his head, and then he tries to steal the Sorcerer's stone, which was not even supposed to be there in the first place! That's without mentioning the blunder of bringing a giant three-headed dog to guard the stone. How Dumbledore convinced Hagrid to bring "Fluffy" in was a complete mystery.

Two years ago was the worst time for Hogwarts by far. This was when a huge number of parents were on the verge of pulling their children out of school. The fabled Chamber of Secrets had been opened again, even though it was only a legend. Ha. If it was indeed a legend or myth, then how did a student open it over 50 years ago? Dumbledore knew it existed, so why wouldn't he do anything about it? Lily didn't know this answer either, but more importantly, it made her lose almost all faith in the old wizard.

The poor Weasley girl was possessed by that damn book of Voldemort's soul and it caused her to unleash the Basilisk. Lily was thankful none of these attacks ended in blood, and that showed how strong Ginny Weasley is. It almost didn't matter in the end when the girl's soul was being absorbed by Voldemort. If her son hadn't been there, then there was no doubt that Ginny would have died.

Lily suddenly had a huge realization. Harry saved Ginny's life in the Chamber of Secrets and she had avoided him ever since. Did she think she owed Harry a life-debt? And if that was the case, did the little redhead purposely hide from her son just so he wouldn't find out? There was only one way to find out.

"Harry, I'm going to leave for a short while. I love you, sweetheart." Mrs. Potter said as she kissed his forehead. Harry didn't respond at all, not that she was expecting it anyway.

Lily left the hospital wing and headed straight to Minerva McGonagall's quarters. She already knew where it was and it was thankfully right next to the Gryffindor Common Room. Since Lily couldn't get in there anyway unless she was the head of house or headmistress, Minerva was the only way. Lily made it to McGonagall's door and knocked a few times. The older woman answered the door and was surprised to see Mrs. Potter.

"Lily? Is something wrong? Is it about Harry?"

"No, Minerva, Harry is asleep thank Godric. He would be in a lot of pain if he wasn't. He should be healed in the next few hours."

"Good. Was there something you needed?" The professor asked nicely.

"Can I come in? I wanted to share my thoughts with you on something." Minerva opened her door and directed Mrs. Potter to the couch on the other side of the room.

"What can I help you with, Lily?"

"Before I tell you, I need you to tell me something. How is Ginny Weasley doing in your class?" McGonagall was a little surprised to be hearing this.

"Miss Weasley? She is not as focused this year as she was before. She seems to be getting the material down, but doesn't say anything in my class unless I call on her."

"What about her friends? Does she seem okay around them?"

"I don't think Miss Weasley has many friends, Lily. Ever since her first year of school ended, the other students haven't been kind to her when they discovered she was the one opening the Chamber of Secrets."

"I don't understand. I thought it was revealed that Miss Weasley was possessed by the diary of Tom Riddle? He's the one who did all this not her!"

"Oh, it was revealed to everyone. After your son had been taken away from school, Dumbledore made a huge announcement about what happened to not only your son but what happened to Miss Weasley as well."

"And the students hated her for that?"

"Unfortunately the students weren't very forgiving since some of their own were petrified for various portions of the year. Most of the victims were given advanced tutoring over the summer based on the amount of class work they had missed. I think the students were afraid that Ginny could have possibly killed the petrified children instead, and resented her for being involved at all."

"I see." Lily said in understanding. It made sense with what her son had told her at the beginning of the year.

"I suppose I get why she's being reserved. Children can be mean. I know what that's like."

"Yes, but you got over that and made a name for yourself too. Besides, I didn't nominate you for Head Girl for nothing." Lily blushed a little.

"Thank you, Minerva." Lily said. "I asked you these questions about Ginny Weasley because I feel that there is something else bothering her. I think she believes she owes my son a life debt."

"Doesn't she? Harry saved her life, and by all rights, he does get something from her, but only once."

"Yes, but that's the problem. I think she's purposely avoiding everyone, including my son, so she doesn't have to give Harry anything. I don't think she's doing this to be mean or hurtful. Maybe she doesn't want Harry to figure out that he has that power over her."

"So in her mind, she would view Harry the same way as Voldemort did two years ago?" Lily nodded in response. "I see. I think we should talk to Miss Weasley then. Wait here while I get her."

Professor McGonagall left the room and headed directly to the Gryffindor Common Room. She opened the portrait without any password and headed into the main area of the room. The kids inside were a bit surprised to see their head of house inside.

"Students, I need your assistance. Do any of you know where Ginny Weasley is right now? It is imperative that I speak to her at once."

The students inside began murmuring but didn't have any answers as to where she was. Then as if she heard her name from only a foot away, Ginny came down from her third-year dorm and approached the Professor of Transfiguration.

"Here I am, Professor." The girl said somewhat quietly.

"Please come with me, Miss Weasley." McGonagall said as she directed the girl towards the door.

Ginny didn't say anything as she followed the older witch to her quarters. The door was opened and Ginny was led inside for her to discover that it wasn't just McGonagall but Mrs. Potter that both wanted to speak to her.

"Am I in trouble?" Ginny asked. She was pretty afraid of what was happening. The fear was literally shaking off of her.

"Not at all, Miss Weasley. Professor Potter just wanted to speak to you about something important. Now if you'll both excuse me, I have other duties to attend to." McGonagall said as she left the room.

"Hello, Ginny. How are you?"

"I .. I'm fine, Professor."

"Oh, Ginny you don't have to call me Professor Potter in here. Just call me Lily, or Mrs. Potter if you prefer." The small girl nodded and didn't say anything.

"I asked you to come here because I need you to understand something." Lily said. She sighed and then resumed speaking.

"Ginny, are you afraid of my son?"The small Weasley girl's eyes widened and she gasped. It was already obvious to what the answer was, but the girl wanted to tell the truth,

"Yes."

"Why? He's really quite harmless. Plus he wouldn't try to save you if he wasn't a good person."

"I had a bad experience two years ago, Mrs. Potter. Tom Riddle possessed me with his diary and I petrified a lot of students while under his influence. Harry saved my life before it was too late. I … I can't thank him enough for saving me, Mrs. Potter." She said while crying a little. Lily came over and rubbed her back little. Ginny appreciated the gesture and calmed down a minute or two later.

"So if you are glad he saved you, then why are you afraid of him?"

"I don't want him to use me." Lily feigned confusion.

"I don't understand. What do you mean "use you"?"

"I owe Harry a life debt, Mrs. Potter. I don't want him having that kind of power over me. I already had someone do that for a year, and now I'm afraid Harry will do the same." The girl said very quietly while looking down. She wasn't done, however.

"That's not all. I'm responsible for Harry losing his sight. If he hadn't come and killed the basilisk, he would be able to see!" Ginny said while getting hysterical and crying again. "He can't even use a broom anymore because of me! I can never make it up to him, and I'll always feel guilty about what happened. I'm just a stupid little girl who almost killed people and made Harry blind! It's all my fault, Mrs. Potter! It was me!"

"Ginny, look at me please." The girl obeyed. "Don't ever think you were responsible for any of that for one second. Tom Riddle made you petrify those kids, and his pet snake blinded Harry. None of that was because of you."

"But Tom controlled me! If I wasn't so weak, I would have thrown him off and none of this would have happened!" Lily decided to use a different tactic to get the girl to understand.

"Do you know who Tom Riddle was, Ginny?"

"I don't know. He was just some dark wizard, Mrs. Potter. Why does that matter?"

"Here's why."

Lily then stood up and wrote the name _Tom Marvolo Riddle_ with her wand. After shifting the letters around, the phrase _I Am Lord Voldemort_ took its place. Ginny felt like she was going to faint with this news. So Voldemort was the one controlling her?

"You mean … Vold … V-Voldemort was Tom Riddle?"

"Yes. Now, do you understand why it was so hard to resist him? Voldemort is a vile piece of filth and a monster. He uses people for his own goals and will do anything to make others suffer. You were possessed for a year, Ginny, and in that time, you fought him to save those kids. I've never heard of anyone being able to resist him for that long. If anyone else were in your place, I'm sure they wouldn't have lasted for an entire year. You're a very powerful witch."

"You think so?" Ginny asked. She had stopped crying while Mrs. Potter was talking.

"I know so. You're extremely powerful and brave. Don't ever think you aren't. Understand?" The girl nodded.

"Good. Do you feel better?"

"Yes. Much. Thank you, Mrs. Potter." Ginny said with a small smile.

"You're welcome. So since you know the truth about Tom, do you think you can talk to Harry now? I mean if you can handle Voldemort, then Harry should be a piece of treacle tart." Both girls laughed. Ginny answered with a yes and started to head out the door, but Lily had one last thing to say.

"You know, Ginny, if you ever have anything you want to talk about, my door is always open. Okay?"

"Yes, mam."

"Good. Now get out of here. I believe you have someone to talk to. I'd also suggest you be careful. Curfew has already started and I'm sure that map you have will help."

"How do you know about that?" The small Weasley asked with her eyes wide open.

"Never mind that. Now go!" Lily said with a little emphasis.

Ginny nodded and made her way out and down the stairs. The girl pulled the map out of her back pocket and started heading towards the Hospital Wing. There wasn't anyone in the way, so it was going to be pretty easy to get around. When the Weasley girl finally reached the doors to the Hospital Wing, she took a moment to catch her breath and gather her thoughts.

" _Okay. Okay. I can do this. I can do this. Okay, here I go._ " Ginny thought as she pushed the door open and went inside.

* * *

A/N: You know the drill. Gonna respond to some comments.

Yami Man: Thanks! Well, Harry is a somewhat dense character in the books because he doesn't know everything. I wanted him to be smart about the wizarding world in this story, but he doesn't know everything there is to know. It's a learning experience.

Anarion87: Thanks!

Taniatrevisi1: Oh it's Portuguese. That's cool! Yeah exactly otherwise I wouldn't know what the hell you were saying. Hey thanks, but it's not super original unfortunately because other people have done things similar to me. I usually don't go out of my way to make Ron and Hermione complete jerks but they are quite annoying to me sometimes. Yeah, I wanna do something with Neville too but I need to think about it. Haha, thanks. I have already considered other houses, but I don't know whether to go simple with someone like Luna or be more adventurous like you suggested. Thanks for everything!


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